


Under the Light of the Moon

by meevees



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Heavy Petting, M/M, Making Out, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-15 08:52:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meevees/pseuds/meevees
Summary: On a dare, Taichi spends the night of the full moon in the forest just outside his school, where a potential werewolf awaits him. The results just might change his life forever. [fantasy AU]





	1. Chapter 1

At what had to have been a little past midnight, it occurred to Taichi that maybe he should have listened to Jou and Koushiro. 

Even with the full moon hanging in the sky, the thick tree cover prevented almost all light from breaking through to alleviate the darkness of the forest. His own torch was sufficient for illuminating only about a five foot radius. The rest of the wood beyond was shrouded in mystery.

He turned to look back on where he’d come from, but the Hikarigaoka Magical Boarding School was out of sight. Taichi was mostly confident it was only because of the intense darkness and the distance he’d put between himself and the school that it was out of sight, and not because he’d gotten turned around and accidentally wandered off in an unknown direction.

Taichi slowed to a stop, sighing. He was really in it deep now. If he continued to walk aimlessly through the forest he ran the risk of getting himself hopelessly lost. And yet, remaining in one place presented its own risks as well. Even if the alleged threat that had brought him into the forest tonight was as unlikely as Koushiro had insisted, no forest was without its dangers.

“Man, I am such an idiot!” Taichi groaned in frustration, then immediately clammed up when he realized his error in shouting out. Fortunately for him, the forest remained eerily quiet, nothing around him seeming to stir. 

Why hadn’t he just listened to his friends and stayed at school?

 

* * *

 

Among the elves, wizards, and fae that attended Hikarigaoka Magical Boarding School, Taichi was painfully average. He was only human, and a human with virtually no affinity for magic to boot. School was a matter of going through the motions for him; it was a formality he had to complete before probably taking up a trade and settling down into a simple life.

The arguably mediocre fate he had been dealt had never bothered Taichi, nor did his parents’ insistence that he complete the education most people would consider a total waste of time. Taichi liked school well enough. He was something of a social butterfly, and feeling little academic pressure meant he could focus on the social opportunities of spending ten months of the year in more or less constant presence of his classmates and friends.

Plus, Taichi  _ loved _ sports.  The chance to play on the school’s soccer club was enough to make even the most unbearable classes seem worth it. Which, in retrospect, was exactly what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

His first year in senior high school meant moving up to the senior soccer team. He’d easily been the best player on the junior team, so there’d been no question about him earning a spot on the more seasoned team. But, it turned out, there had been a catch.

“Let’s call it an initiation,” The captain of the team had explained smugly while the other players had all smirked, knocked elbows, and laughed under their breath around him, “A little challenge to see if you really have what it takes to roll with this team.”

Taichi was well aware of how these sorts of things usually turned out--badly--but he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. He smirked right back, “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

His lack of hesitation seemed to throw the older players for a momentary loop, but they recovered quickly, “You know the forest just past the outskirts of the school grounds? There have been rumors going around the past couple of months that there’s a werewolf living in there.”

Just the mention of a werewolf turned Taichi’s blood to ice. As far as magical creatures went they were by far the least friendly and arguably the most dangerous. Taichi had never actually encountered one before, but then again most people hadn’t. It wasn’t commonplace to cross paths with a werewolf and live to talk about it.

Still, he did his best to conceal how apprehensive he was about where this “initiation challenge” was headed, “Y-yeah, what about it?”

“Tonight’s a full moon,” many of the players had gone silent, sobering up as even they did not like where this was going, “You brave enough to spend the whole night alone in the woods with a werewolf for company?”

Everything about this seemed to be straight out of a cautionary tale his parents or the headmaster of the school would tell. A textbook example of what not to do. But Taichi already felt committed, his pride not allowing him to back down so easily, “Sure, I’ll do it.” His answer seemed to surprise the team as much as it surprised himself.

His roommates were even more incredulous when he relayed the story to them later on.

“A werewolf?!” Jou had asked wildly. A year Taichi’s senior, Jou was studying to be a magical healer. He’d proven relatively inept at it thus far, but that didn’t stop him from working harder than anyone Taichi knew, “Taichi, that is insane. It’s way too dangerous; you could be killed!”

“It’s also completely illogical,” his younger roommate added. Koushiro was an elf, and easily the smartest person Taichi had ever met, though a bit socially awkward at times. At least by human standards. “Think about it--If a werewolf’s really been living in the woods all this time it would need to eat, wouldn’t it? And yet not a single attack has been reported, not even on livestock. This is likely just a story someone made up to spook younger students.”

“Great!” Taichi replied, feeling emboldened, “In that case, tonight should be easy.”

Koushiro sighed, “That was not my point. The forest is still dangerous, with or without a werewolf. And besides, this is clearly hazing. You should be reporting it to the school authorities.”

That earned a grimace from Taichi.

“Yeah, then not only would I be a coward, but I’d also be a snitch, which is even worse. So I’ll pass on that plan.”

“But Taichi, you’re not actually going to do it?” Jou asked anxiously.

The determined look on his face was obviously answer enough for both of his roommates, who did not press the subject any further. They both knew better than to try to talk Taichi out of something once he’d made up his mind. He’d waited until they were both asleep and snuck off to complete his task.

 

* * *

 

In retrospect, if he’d had more time to consider what he was in for, even just a day or two before the full moon had arrived, he probably would have reconsidered his agreement. As it stood now, even if he wanted to give up, to head back to the school before the night was over and accept the title of coward, Taichi doubted he would be able to find his way back in the dark. There was no backing out now, and he couldn’t help but curse his impulsive nature for getting him into this mess.

The sound of a branch snapping nearby shocked him out of his thoughts. He whipped his body in the direction of the sound, holding his torch out to see if anything was approaching. At first he saw nothing, and he was prepared to write the sound he had heard off as his imagination playing tricks on him. He was on edge, after all.

But then he caught sight of it.

There was something approaching--too far off to notice at first, but steadily making its way into the light of the torch. It was quadrupedal, too big to be a fox or even a bobcat, too small for a bear. Perhaps a large dog, he considered optimistically, but what would a domestic dog be doing so deep in the woods? Whatever it was, it continued to walk straight toward him, moving slowly and cautiously, but seemingly undeterred by his foreign presence as a human or the fire he grasped in his hand.

Before long what was unmistakably a wolf came to a stop before him. It was huge, probably standing as high as Taichi’s waist at the shoulders, with a shaggy coat of sandy colored fur. It was mere feet away from him now, but it made no move to attack or do anything other than stand before him. It stared him down, considering him with a pair of bright blue eyes.

Was this the werewolf? Did the rumor around school have some truth to it after all? Or was it just a regular wolf that inhabited the forest? Either way, the situation did not seem good for Taichi. He did not like his chance against a wolf, were or otherwise. He didn’t even have a weapon on him, unless one counted his torch.

And yet the creature wasn’t attacking. Maybe if Taichi stood very still and quiet, it would finish its appraisal of him and go on its way. Or maybe he was making himself easy pickings by just standing there, dumbstruck. 

It was often the case that when Taichi found himself in a critical situation he would act on his gut instinct rather than over-thinking his options. On the soccer pitch this manner of approaching decisions was an incredible asset. Most other times, it led him to act foolishly and impulsively. In this moment, alone in the woods and staring down a massive predator that could just as soon maul him as it could swish its tail, Taichi acted on one such impulse.

He turned and he ran.

Vaguely, Taichi hoped that he’d been lucky enough to pick the direction of the school to run in, but the truth was he had no idea where he was going and no time to think about it. At first he didn’t dare look back to see if the wolf had pursued him. He didn’t dare stop either. In the end it wouldn’t make much difference; even as athletic as he was there was no way he could outrun a wolf for long if it had taken up the chase. 

After what felt like an eternity of running but had probably only been a few moments, Taichi couldn’t take anymore. He still couldn’t risk stopping, but he did crane his neck around to see if he was being followed or not. He was greeted with a bizarre sight. 

The wolf, it turned out, had followed him. Except it wasn’t really chasing him. It was trotting along at a leisurely pace, keeping a few yards of distance between them. It could not have been running at full speed, and it certainly was not making any effort to catch him. So what was it doing?

Trying to figure that out turned out to be a mistake. As caught up as he was in trying to decipher the wolf’s strange behavior, Taichi had still not stopped moving forward as fast as he could. In the chaos his torch had blown out and he was not looking where he was going. He turned his head back around and peered into the darkness ahead of him. Too late he realized he was about to collide with a low branch sticking straight across his path. He had no time to stop himself and he slammed forehead first into the offending limb, knocking himself to the ground and sending stars swimming across his vision before the world went black for a moment or two.

Slowly Taichi sat himself up, but that caused his entire body and everything around him to start spinning. He closed his eyes against the dizziness and the pain in his head. He was completely vulnerable, but the shock had left him confused and driven everything else out of his mind. Even if he had remembered the potential danger approaching him, he likely would have been powerless to do anything about it. Instead he sat motionless on the forest floor.

He was unsure how much time had passed or if he had even remained conscious when the sound of whining brought him back to reality. At first he thought it might be his own cries of pain he was hearing. But when he did not react the whining continued, eventually to be interrupted by a sharp, staccato bark.

That got Taichi’s attention. He slowly opened his eyes to see the wolf was now sitting on the path ahead of him, seemingly trying to get his attention and staring him down with those blue eyes once again.  _ Oh yeah, a wolf . . . I was running from a wolf _ . That was the most clarity Taichi could muster through the haze in his mind, unable to remember why exactly he’d been running or what about this wolf he’d been afraid of. It wasn’t all that intimidating now, just sitting there and crying. It’s behavior might have seemed extraordinarily peculiar to him, if he’d been clear enough to actually analyze it.

The wolf stood and backpedaled a couple of steps up the path before barking once again. Taichi closed his eyes again as the sound reverberated painfully through his skull. But the animal repeated this pattern several more times--back up a few steps, bark, repeat--that Taichi finally gazed past it in the direction that it was moving. 

He had apparently run towards somewhat of a clearing and the moonlight was shining through the forest here enough for him to see further ahead than was previously possible. And maybe a hundred yards away from him, past the wolf down the path, was a beat up looking old shack.

Taichi had no mental faculties left to process was a shack was doing in the middle of the woods, who might be inhabiting it, or what dangers it might present. He couldn’t even process that going to it meant moving right towards the creature he had just been running from. All he knew in that moment was that it meant  _ shelter _ . A place he could sleep for the night until trying to find his way back to school in the morning. And he so desperately needed to sleep. 

He slowly stumbled to his feet. He haphazardly fumbled his way up the path towards the shack before him, at times so close to falling over that he was almost crawling. But he made it.

If his mind had been a little clearer, he might have noticed that the wolf had walked alongside him the whole way, almost as if guiding him.

Inside the shack Taichi felt blessed to discover a cot that appeared to be in decent shape; he was too tired and too dizzy to consider that this, too, should have seemed a little suspicious. He collapsed onto and was asleep almost before he was fully horizontal.

 

* * *

 

Sunlight peeked in through paneless windows, shining across Taichi’s face. He awoke groggily and unwittingly as he was immediately greeted by the worst headache of his entire life. He groaned and brought a hand up to massage his temples, finding a sizable lump waiting there for him. Just what had happened last night again . . .?

He opened his eyes and took in his unfamiliar surroundings with confusion and quickly growing apprehension. The events of the night before began trickling back into his memory, but they were still jumbled and unclear. He’d spent the night in the forest as initiation for the soccer club. But why was he in what looked like a run down old house? And why did his head hurt so badly?

A sudden snore jolted Taichi out of his thoughts and nearly sent him bolting out of the cot he was laying on. Apparently he was not alone. He looked over the side of the cot and found another boy who looked to be about his age sleeping on the floor beside him. The boy’s blond hair was the color of sand, an observation which sent warning bells off in the back of Taichi’s brain, but he couldn’t place the significance of. On top of that--a scarlet blushed crept right up to Taichi’s bruised forehead as he noticed it--the boy was stark naked.

“What the hell?!” Taichi cried, burying his face in his hands. He had no idea what was going on and his head was still throbbing.

A groan issued from the floor below him. Obviously the outburst had awoken his companion. “Could you try not to yell? I didn’t get any sleep at all last night.” The voice certainly sounded groggy with lack of sleep, and it was deeper than he expected. 

The blond boy sat up, stretching his upper body languidly and letting out a long yawn before actually turning to look at Taichi. Realization seemed to dawn on him when he did, and suddenly he seemed much more awake, “Oh! That’s right. You’re awake--Good. How are you feeling?”

Taichi turned his eyes upward; he was unable to make eye contact, still hyper-aware of the other boy’s nakedness. For his part blondy seemed utterly nonplussed, not even bothering to cover himself up. In fact, he seemed nonplussed by this entire situation, while Taichi was still struggling to grasp what the situation even was. He found himself feeling suddenly very frustrated about it. 

“Who the hell are you?” Taichi asked defensively, not even bothering to answer the question asked of him. In truth, he was feeling ten shades of horrible. “And what am I doing here?”

That reaction did get the other boy to bristle a bit. “Oh, you know, just the guy who saved you from being concussed and defenseless in the middle of the forest last night, no need to thank me.” He retorted, although his voice immediately softened once again, “You hit your head, though. That’s probably why you don’t remember.”

“Right. That’s right.” A few more of the evening’s events came back to Taichi. He’d run--hard--into a tree branch. He had been running . . . why had he been running? “I kind of remember that now. I don’t remember another person showing up, though.”

He tried to get a good look at the boy, to see if that jarred his memory, but he just couldn’t do it. “Agh! Could you please put some clothes on, at least?!” Even as he said it Taichi was tossing the blanket from his cot over the boy to cover him up.

“Oh.” Blondy looked down upon himself in mild surprised, as if it hadn’t even occurred to him that he was as naked as the day he’d been born until Taich pointed it out. Clearly it hadn’t. His gaze then meander idly about the room until it landed on a disheveled looking pile of clothes in the corner. He stood up, dropping the cover of Taichi’s blanket in the process, and walked across the room to dress himself with the simple shirt and pants, both of which looked fairly tattered. Then he returned to sit on the floor beside Taichi. “Better?”

“Thank you,” Taichi sighed in relief. He had been pointedly staring at the wall throughout the entire process. Now he could actually take in the face of his alleged rescuer without being distracted by, well, the rest of him. Somehow Taichi was still certain there had been no one else with him the night before. He remembered an animal. Or at least he thought he did. But what sort of animal was it? Definitely not a human, that much he was sure of.

And as he looked into the face of the boy before him, a pair of bright blue eyes looked back at him appraisingly. That turned out to be the puzzle piece that clicked into place, solving the remaining mysteries of the previous night. He’d looked into those eyes already, not on this boy but on a huge, sandy-haired wolf. The wolf that he’d been running from. The wolf that had been acting curiously more human than wolf-like . . .

That realization did send him jumping out of the cot, and he quickly backpedaled across the room, putting as much distance between himself and the boy as he could until his back slammed against a wall. His eyes were wide, and he didn’t dare take them off of the creature sitting before him. He pointed an accusatory finger, “Y-you’re the werewolf!”

It laughed a little, causing those blue eyes to dance, and grinning rather like the cat that caught the canary. Or in this case perhaps the werewolf that had caught the human was more apt. “Took you long enough.”


	2. Chapter 2

Taichi pushed himself farther back against the wall, the old wood creaking in protest of his weight. Not that it would do him any good, obviously. Why hadn’t he run for the door? It would have been his once chance to get away, when the werewolf hadn’t been expecting him to bolt. Now he was truly trapped.

The werewolf seemed to find the situation amusing, still chuckling to itself at Taichi’s reaction to the truth.  Its demeanor remained as cool as could be, a far cry from Taichi’s erratically beating heart and tense muscles.  But then, what did it have to be nervous about? The werewolf was the predator here. And Taichi—adrenaline pumping through his veins, every impulse in his nervous system screaming at him,  _ flight _ —he was the prey.

Maybe if Taichi got it talking enough, just a little distracted, he would have another chance to rush the door. Even though the risk was starting to seem less immediate. Just like the night before, the creature wasn’t actually attacking him, just continuing to sit there. It was curious, but not enough to make him relax. Distraction still seemed like his best plan, “What, is this a joke to you?”

The laughter stopped, abruptly. Was it Taichi’s imagination, or did the werewolf seem on guard all of a sudden? “What do you mean?”

That…wasn’t really the reaction he’d been expecting. Taichi faltered, uncertain how to handle the sudden defensiveness, but continued regardless, “You like to play with your food, or something?”

“What?!”

The obvious rage in the response served only to further embolden Taichi. Although he’d definitely succeeded in distracting the creature before him and had already taken a step forward away from the wall, his plan of running had been entirely forgotten. He’d had a long night, his head was still pounding, and now this thing was  _ toying _ with him. It was all so frustrating, and he was ready to take his frustration out of the nearest available target, even if a mere half a second of thought might have reminded him how stupid of an idea that was. “Listen, werewolf—“

“Yamato.”

The interjection completed derailed Taichi’s indignation. He attempted to regain his momentum, but whatever rant he’d been about to unleash had been lost. “I . . . what?”

“I have a name. It’s not ‘werewolf,’ it’s Yamato.” It looked rather sullen now (was that a  _ pout _ ?), and for someone who had seemed fairly stoic at first impression there sure had been a range of emotions playing across those fair features in the last few beats of their conversation. “And for what it’s worth, if I considered you food you never would have made it to sunrise, so you can relax now.”

The tiniest curl of the lip, right at the corner . . .had the wer—Yamato—been teasing him just then? Taichi wasn’t feeling on friendly enough terms to brush that off just yet, but he did start to relax. “Then why didn’t you finish the job when you attacked me last night?”

And there was the anger again. It shot up like a wall between them, destroying the sense of ease that had been starting to settle. Yamato’s blue eyes were as cold as ice, “You must have hit you head harder than I thought if you actually think I attacked you last night.”

“You came right at me in the woods.”

“I  _ looked _ at you. You were in my territory, that sort of thing makes me nervous when I’m . . .” Yamato apparently didn’t care to finish that thought, as he trailed off and quickly picked back up elsewhere. “I looked at you and then you ran.”

“You  _ chased _ me!”

“You were running right towards my house!”

Taichi couldn’t understand why he was getting so defensive. But the more Yamato shared his side of the story, the more a strange feeling started to creep its way through his chest, not anger or confusion but something else he couldn’t name, and it made him feel compelled to prove that he was right. “I . . . you . . .”

But there was very little point in the attempt. Taichi had little ground to stand on in this argument, and he knew it. He’d been the one stupid enough to wander through the forest in the middle of the night, and if not for Yamato he could very well be dead right now. “Sorry, I think I overreacted last night.” Yamato snorted, and Taichi could hear the implied ‘you  _ think _ so?’ behind the sound so clearly that it almost set him off to arguing again, but he took a deep breath and continued, “And, uh, thanks for helping me out. My name’s Taichi, by the way.”

“No problem.” Yamato shrugged. His guard was definitely still up, but he at least didn’t seem to want to push the argument any further. “What were you doing out there, anyway?”

“Uh, it was a dare.” Taichi admittedly sheepishly, before proceeding to explain the story, right up until they ran into each other in the woods the night before. Yamato looked increasingly incredulous as he went on.

“You have literally no sense of self preservation, do you?”

Taichi flashed a lopsided grin, “That’s exactly what my friends assured me when I told them I was planning on going through with this stunt.”

Yamato only shook his head, looking simultaneously baffled and unimpressed. “But hey,” Taichi continued, “Looks like it all worked out in the end.”

The look on the blond boy’s face suggested he did not agree. Taichi frowned, “What’s wrong?”

“Maybe it worked out for you,” Yamato explained with a sigh, “but this means I’m officially on the market for a new place to live.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A bunch of students spreading a rumor that there’s a werewolf living in the woods is one thing, but if they actually  _ know _ I’m here? Someone’s going to come looking for me, and not just because they were dared too. And that’s a risk I can’t take.”

He actually seemed frightened at the thought of some humans coming after him, and that more than anything else that had happened in the past twelve hours was the most earth-shattering challenge to Taichi’s worldview. After all, what could a werewolf possibly have to be afraid of?

That wasn’t the only curious thing about Yamato’s concern, though. He couldn’t possibly live in the woods all of the time, could he? But then Taichi thought of a statement Yamato had made earlier, when he’d still been trying to argue that the werewolf had attacked him in the woods:  _ you were running right toward my house. _

For what felt like way too many times for how early in the day it must still be, Taichi was once again shocked, “Wait a minute, you’re not telling me you live  _ here _ ?!”

As if to emphasize his point, he motioned his hand around the tiny shack. It was, quite obviously, not a satisfactory means of shelter to serve as someone’s permanent residence. Taichi could probably cross the one tiny room with three large strides. The floor was warped and the roof was patched, and the lone window had no glass panes remaining. There was a door leading to a single additional room, a restroom if Taichi had to guess, although he wondered whether the place would have any access to running water.

And yet, as he looked around the room again, there was definitely evidence of it being lived in. The cot he’d spent the night on, for example, which definitely did not look like it had been here as long as the shack itself. There was a small stack of books, a single lamp, and a calendar on the wall (that seemed odd to him somehow, until he realized it was a lunar calendar). Not to mention, everything wasn’t covered in dust, the way it should have been if this place had really been abandoned for who knows how long.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” Yamato asked the question as if daring Taichi to challenge him, and yet there was a hint of bashfulness that crept through from behind the tough front. “I had a good thing going here, too, but I guess I’ll have to think of something else.”

“You won’t have to.” Taichi wasn’t sure where the sense of resolution came from, but he was very sure that regardless of the reason he couldn’t betray this person. Yamato gave him a puzzled look. “It only matters if they find out about you. I won’t tell them.”

Yamato did not look convinced. “But the whole point of you coming here was to look for me. Wouldn’t that just mean you’re going back empty handed?”

“No, the point was for me to spend the night in the woods without getting eaten by you.” Yamato gave him a look, but Taichi continued undeterred. “Most of those guys probably never believed there was really a werewolf out here anyway. They just wanted to rub it in when I chickened out; they were never expecting me to call their bluff. Even if I go back and say there was no werewolf, I still did what I came here to do.”

“But . . . you’re sure you don’t mind lying to your friends for me?” Yamato did not seem quite able to let go of his hesitation, but there was a more hopeful look in his bright blue eyes, “You don’t even know me.”                                                                                                        

“Well, I’ll probably tell my roommates, Jou and Koushiro—don’t worry! I completely trust them, if I explain that they can’t tell anyone else about you, they will understand.” Taichi cut off the protest from Yamato before it even began. He knew it was probably a little unfair of him to ask for, to be able to tell his friends. But he needed to be able to talk about this with someone, to have someone help him understand the uncomfortable feeling that had been bubbling up in the back of his mind since he realized Yamato’s true identity this morning, maybe even since last night. "As for everyone else, I don’t really care what they know or what they think. Besides, you saved my butt last night, so I owe you one. Your secret is safe with me, I promise.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.” And Yamato did look sincerely relieved by Taichi’s promise. He grinned, “It’s probably best for you, too. You’d have a hard time explaining to most people that you’ve been hanging out with a werewolf all morning.”

“Hanging out? Is that what we’re doing now?” Taichi offered a grin of his own in return. It was completely bizarre, how quickly he’d gone from being terrified for his life in the face of Yamato to this sort of companionable air that had settled between them. But it didn’t feel wrong.

Suddenly feeling himself unable to hold Yamato’s piercing gaze for some reason, Taichi turned his attention out the window, where he saw the sun had been making surprisingly quick work of its travels across the sky. “Unfortunately, I think I need to cut this hang out session short. If I don’t make it back to school soon they’re going to start seriously freaking out. And if a teacher notices I’m gone I am  _ so _ screwed.”

Maybe it was Taichi’s imagination, but Yamato looked crestfallen at the suggestion he leave so soon. But he didn’t protest, “All right. It was . . . it was nice meeting you, then.”

“Yeah, you too.” Taichi agreed, a little surprised at how much he meant it. He didn’t make any move to get up and leave, though, and after a moment of awkward silence fell between them an embarrassed smile crossed his features.

“. . . You have no idea how to get back to the school from here, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

Yamato sighed deeply and stood up, shooting Taichi a judgmental look, “Well, I can at least take you far enough that you should be able to make it the rest of the way on your own.” Yamato looked so completely put upon making the offer it was as if he was acting annoyed on purpose.

“You’re the best! I owe you one. Again.” Taichi laughed. Yamato was not amused.

Yamato stepped into a pair of shoes he hadn’t bothered with when Taichi had asked him to dress, and made his way for the door without saying anything else. He was halfway out of it already as Taichi scrambled to follow him.

“You know,” Taichi began idly as he strolled through the woods alongside Yamato, no longer able to contain the one observation he’d been pondering the whole morning, “I thought you’d be hairier.”

“ _ Excuse _ me?”

Yamato laughed at what was obviously a strange statement to him, looking at Taichi liked he’d just sprouted an extra head out of his neck. Taichi explained himself. “I mean, I thought it would be obvious that a werewolf was a werewolf, even when they’re—“ he motioned his hands up and down Yamato’s frame, not sure how to put what he was trying to say into words. Human? Not hardly, but the point was Yamato easily could have fooled him if he didn’t know better.  “You could have walked by me a dozen times on the street and I never would have noticed.”

Well, Taichi doubted that he would ever have failed to notice Yamato walking by him on the street; the lithe, blond boy’s appearance was something he didn't think he could easily ignore. But that was an issue entirely separate from the point he was trying to make, and he quickly looked away as he found himself blushing with that particular train of thought.

Yamato laughed again, a much bitterer sound now that Taichi had explained himself,  “Funny isn’t it? How it almost seems like I’m just like everyone else?”

Funny wasn’t the first word that came to mind for Taichi. Scary seemed somehow more apt. Not in regards to Yamato particularly, but a chill ran down Taichi’s spine as he thought of how many times in his life he could have crossed paths with a werewolf and not even known it. How many times he might have nearly missed a close encounter with something horrible. After all, Yamato had to be the exception to the rule, didn’t he? If not, if everything Taichi had ever understood about werewolves was as wrong as Yamato was starting to make it seem . . . the thought brought that bubbling, uncomfortable feeling right to the forefront of his mind.

Taichi was so lost in his considerations that the pair of them fell into silence as they walked together. It was awkward at first; Taichi had clearly offended Yamato with his previous comment although he wasn’t sure what to do about it other than allow the reaction to his blunder to blow over. Before long exactly that seemed to happen, however, and they spent the majority of the trip back to school traveling in companionable silence together.

Not long after Taichi started recognizing his surroundings again, Yamato started to get visibly nervous. He had mentioned only taking Taichi so far when they’d still been at the shack, and Taichi had a feeling they were quickly approaching his threshold. He remembered how unsettled Yamato had become at the thought of people coming into the forest after him, and couldn't help but draw a correlation between the sudden nervous energy and their proximity to civilization. Taichi could just barely recognize the shape of the school on the horizon through the trees. But in the daylight that was more than enough.

“I can probably find my way from here, if you wanna head back.”

Yamato looked visibly relieved by the offer. His manners still seemed to get the better of him, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I know where I am now, thanks to you. I really appreciate all of your help. Last night and today.”

“Don’t mention it.” Yamato replied. His eyes began darting around, looking for anywhere for his gaze to land other than meeting Taichi’s own, as if he wasn’t sure what to say next.

Taichi found himself feeling similarly, but not wanting things to get awkward again he tried, “So I’ll uhh, see you around then?”

Judging by Yamato’s reaction, that had not been the right thing to say. It was almost as if the blond had been struck; he looked shocked, sad, and disappointed all at once. “Most likely not. Given the whole ‘you pretending you never saw me out here’ thing, it would probably be best if you didn’t come back around . . .”

“Oh. Right.” That did make sense, objectively. If he hadn’t seen anyone or anything noteworthy in the woods, then there wasn’t much of a reason for him to be coming back at all, it might just make people suspicious. But knowing that didn’t stop the miserable knot from forming in the pit of his stomach. “Well. Uh. Thanks again, then.”

“Sure.” Yamato offered, and for a long moment he paused, looking like he wanted to say something more, still looking incredibly sad for being the one who had just told Taichi he didn’t want to see him again. He seemed to give up on whatever he was considering, though. “Well . . . good-bye.”

Taichi just waved, watching as Yamato turned and began to walk back into the forest. He stood there watching for a few long moments, waiting for a pair of blue eyes to glance back at him. But Yamato was resolute in his departure, and as his image started to blur into the horizon, Taichi finally turned away to complete his trek back to school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot of set up and I'm not sure I'm super thrilled with that? But there will be more going on in the upcoming chapter, for sure. Still unbeta'd.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOPS THE RATING WENT UP also yes sorry this took forever and a day but on the bright side it's about twice as long as the previous chapters
> 
> also also I do not care that this is set in a vaguely technology free, fantasy world of my own design, THEY HAVE CUP NOODLE HERE, anachronisms be damned

When he returned to school, Taichi told the abridged story of the previous night’s events to his team. His torch had gone out, he’d hit his head because it was so dark, and he’d found a safe place to sleep it off for the rest of the night. As promised, he made no mention of Yamato or the little shack in the woods he called home. The other players seemed disappointed but largely unsurprised that he had not come back with a thrilling tale about a close encounter with a werewolf. If they only knew the half of it, he couldn’t help but think, but his desire to keep his promise to Yamato did not waiver.

More than anything else, though, it was clear that his risk had paid off, at least as far as his relationship with the team was concerned. Werewolf or not, he had earned their respect for following through with the dangerous task. Many of them would proceed to ask him to recount the story half a dozen more times before they were satisfied, their awe never waning despite the fact that Taichi didn’t think what he was telling them was all that interesting or exciting.

With Jou and Koushiro though it was a whole different story. Literally. He told them the whole truth--about running into Yamato in the woods, about running _away_ , and about talking to Yamato the next morning, right up to promising to keep his presence a secret and Yamato walking him back to school.

 “He was just so normal,” Taichi reiterated the uncertainties that had been buzzing around in his head all day for his friends, hoping they would be able to provide some clarity about his experience, “If you ran into him in town you would never know it. Even as a wolf . . . I was totally easy prey out there, but he helped me. He had me totally at his mercy, he could have done anything, and he _chose_ to help me.”

“It certainly goes against every story I’ve ever been told about werewolves.” Jou agreed once Taichi had fully finished speaking. It was validating, to hear Jou express the same conflict Taichi had been experiencing, but it didn’t clear up his confusion at all. “It makes you wonder what else we might be wrong about.”

 Koushiro looked thoughtful. He hadn’t spoken a word since Taichi had begun his story, and that didn’t change now. He had a far off look in his eyes and Taichi could practically see the gears turning in his head, knew he was trying to take it all in.

“But the stories about vicious werewolves have to come from somewhere, right? I mean, you hear reports about werewolf attacks. And why would someone go around saying they were all horrible and dangerous if it wasn’t true? Yamato must just be different from the others somehow . . .right?" 

Koushiro was still far away with his thoughts. And Jou did not seem immediately certain how to answer. He bit his lip, thinking it over before finally settling on, “You would probably be best served asking _him_ these questions. He’s the one who would know what’s really the truth.”

“I can’t,” Taichi lamented, shaking his head sadly. He was hoping this conversation with his friends would assuage his conflicted feelings, instead it had only heightened them. Jou was probably right that Yamato was the only person who could really answer his questions, not that knowing so made it any more possible. Besides that, the fact that Yamato had turned him away still stung for reasons Taichi couldn’t quite identify, “He told me not to come back. Too big a risk of people finding out about him.”

“Wow, he sure wants to be left alone, huh?”

 “He almost seemed afraid of people finding him, honestly,” Taichi explained, “He got really nervous when it first came up. And then again when we started getting close to the school while he showed me the way.”

“Well, wouldn’t you be, if you were him?” For the first time, Koushiro finally contributed to their conversation. It came as a bit of a shock to Taichi, both because by then he wasn’t expecting it and because of the words themselves.

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Think about it . . . consider how negatively you reacted when you first discovered he was a werewolf. And now imagine what other sort of people would be likely to go seeking him out once they realized he was there. Adults from the school worried about the safety of the students, or people from the town worried about their livestock. What are the chances they would be as willing to stop and hear him out as you were?”

Not very high, Taichi imagined. And yet, he still was not completely convinced of the legitimacy of Yamato’s fears. “I guess I can see your point. But still, even if they went after him, what does he really have to worry about? Shouldn’t a werewolf be able to take a couple humans in a fight pretty easily?”

 “Sure, during his transformation that’s probably true. But it’s also highly unlikely that they would be foolish enough to seek him out during a full moon. If you think about it, most days humans probably make him feel just as fearful for his life as werewolves usually make humans feel for theirs.”

 Taichi didn’t want to think about it.

 

* * *

 

Despite Taichi’s successful and allegedly lycanthrope-free endeavor, rumors around the school that there was a werewolf living in the woods persisted. In fact, while no one seemed to doubt his claim that he had not seen any such werewolf (they had no reason to doubt him, after all, because who would have believed that he would meet the creature and survive to tell them about it?), most of the student body had nonetheless come to view him as a sort of authority on the subject. They would come to him seeking reports of proof that the werewolf existed: 

_“Did you see any footprints that looked like these?”_  

_“How about claw marks on the trees? I heard they do it to mark the territory they’ve already hunted in, so they don’t waste time in an area where everything is already dead.”_

_“Well_ I _heard they’re so evil that to hear one howl up close actually makes your whole body feel cold, like your blood turned icy. Did you hear anything like that?”_

The wild suggestions continued for weeks. Taichi also continued to shut them all down, which wasn’t exactly hard because it never required him to actually lie. The supposed evidence that could be used to identify the presence of a werewolf got increasingly ridiculous with each person that approached him. He wondered if any of them actually believed any of it, but they all seemed quite sincere. What was worse, he couldn’t help but wonder if _he_ would have believe it himself, before meeting Yamato. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, not that he wanted to admit it.

 By the end of the second week since the full moon the rumor mill had more or less run its course, and the students moved on to talking about other things. That didn’t stop Taichi thinking about Yamato, though. On the contrary, it was like he couldn’t stop his thoughts from circling back to the blond-haired boy. There were still the unanswered questions to consider, of course. But more often than not, Taichi just found his thoughts wandering to Yamato himself, to his bright blue eyes, to the way he’d smiled the smallest of smiles once they’d started getting friendly, and to how his body had appeared somehow both soft and strong even though Taichi had been too embarrassed to really look when he’d had the chance . . . 

It was about three weeks since the full moon, after Taichi had been scolded by a teacher for the fourth time in one day for daydreaming in class, that he had to admit to himself that he maybe had just a _little bit_ of a crush on Yamato.

It was only reasonable, in his opinion. Didn’t people always say there was something undeniably attractive about a little bit of mystery, or danger? And who better to provide that than an unfairly handsome, surprisingly genial werewolf? Too bad there was no chance Yamato felt the same.

 And yet, if Yamato didn’t at least like him as a person, then why did he look so sad when he’d turned Taichi away?

 Soccer was his only reprieve from his racing thoughts about Yamato, the only thing that was enough to take his mind off the other boy as he poured one hundred percent of his attention into the game.

 But when October’s full moon rolled around, not even that was enough. He was distracted at practice, so much so that the coach sent him back to the locker room a few minutes early, which did nothing to improve his mood. From there he went to pancing anxiously about in his dorm, while Jou and Koushiro tried in vain to calm him down. Even long after they had fallen asleep that night he lay awake, unable to sleep, hyper aware of the fact that Yamato was out there. Every distant sound he heard from outside his window he convinced himself was Yamato running about in the woods, as irrational as it was. But he couldn’t stop himself all night from wondering just where Yamato was, what he was up to, and perhaps most irrationally of all, worrying about it.

Until the night came and went with nothing particularly noteworthy happening. Nobody was gossiping about werewolf sightings at the dining hall during breakfast the next day. Everything in his life was exactly as it had been the day before--a stark contrast to the morning after the previous full moon. It was so dissonant, in fact, that it briefly had him wondering if he’d actually imagined Yamato altogether, a hallucination born of the hit to the head he’d taken, but he knew that was ridiculous.

 It was enough to finally give his mind a rest from constantly thinking about the werewolf, though. And so, at least for a few weeks, Taichi’s life returned to its usual, pre-Yamato normalcy.

* * *

 

It was just a few days before the November full moon when Yamato’s presence was brought alarmingly to the forefront of Taichi’s mind again.

“A _snowstorm_?” He had replied incredulously when Koushiro had given him the news. It was a Friday afternoon and he had just returned to their dorm from soccer practice.

“It looks that way,” Koushiro affirmed, “Winter seems to be coming unseasonably early this year. It will probably arrive sometime in the middle of the night tonight. If there’s anything you need to get done this weekend that you can’t do while holed up in here, I’d take care of it now.”

Koushiro had only meant to look out for Taichi, but of course his thoughts went straight to Yamato and his run-down little shack. He was going to have to deal with winter eventually no matter what, but it was doubtful he’d be expecting it so soon. It was unlikely he had consistent access to weather reports with the way he isolated himself, and if this storm was to catch him off guard . . .

Taichi definitely had something he needed to do this weekend. He promptly dumped his soccer gear out onto his bed and began to refill his duffle bag with blankets and a spare jacket.

“. . . What are you doing?” Jou asked as he watched Taichi work frantically around the room. His tone was hesitant, like he was afraid to actually get the answer to his own question.

“Yamato’s house is totally not fit for protecting someone through a snowstorm. If he’s not ready he’ll freeze to death.”

Jou’s face confirmed that was exactly the answer he’d been afraid of. “Right. And need I remind you that you are just as prone to freezing to death as he is?”

“Or that he explicitly asked you to stay away?” Koushiro supplied. However, his reminder seemed somewhat noncommittal. He had probably already resigned himself to the fact that Taichi was going to go regardless of what they had to say about it. He was right.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just drop some stuff off for him and turn right around--I’ll be back before it even hits. And he can’t be too mad at me for just trying to help, right?”

Koushiro and Jou exchanged a look that suggested they were not nearly as confident about any of this as Taichi was, but he had already turned his back to them and was on his way out the door.

* * *

Navigating his way back to Yamato’s “house” had been surprisingly easy now that Taichi knew the way. The only thing that had slowed him down was the wind, which had already started picking up and was howling by the time he reached his destination, causing the old trees around the edge of the clearing to creak and groan in protest.

The door was not locked, or perhaps it just couldn’t, so Taichi let himself in. Yamato, it turned out, was not there, and Taichi allowed himself an instant of panic that the blond had gotten nervous and moved on despite his promise, but then he noticed that the evidence of Yamato remained: his books, his calendar, some clothes in a neat pile at the foot of the unmade cot. So he was just out at the moment, then. Taichi flopped unceremoniously onto the cot to wait for him, and then quickly jumped back up with a yelp as he had sat on something hard and uncomfortable. He reached blindly below himself for a moment before grabbing hold of the offending object and sitting back down. It was a harmonica; Taichi turned it over in his hands idly, smiling to himself at the thought of Yamato playing it.

He placed the harmonica back down on the bed beside him and looked around. Yamato clearly had been preparing for winter in advance. He’d acquired a small wood burning stove. Besides a small space now occupied by the vent for the stove, the single window had been boarded up and sealed off. A glance upward suggested he had further sealed the patch in the ceiling as well.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Taichi had been so focused on his observations of the room that he had not immediately noticed Yamato, who was now standing in the doorway. He looked more baffled than he did angry, although it still wasn’t quite the warm welcome Taichi had been hoping for; he was holding a bundle of wood under one arm and what appeared to be a bag from the grocer’s in the other. 

“Wait, you went into town?” Taichi asked bemusedly, rather than answer Yamato’s own question. 

Yamato let out a deep sigh, as if even thinking about the trip he’d just completed was tiresome. “I try to avoid it as much as I can, but sometimes it just can’t be helped. I just keep my visits as few and far between as possible, and make sure I’m only there at times when your school would be out so nobody gets suspicious. 

It seemed like a lot of effort just to run some errands, but Taichi didn’t have much time to think about it as Yamato tried his request anew, “So again, you’re here because…?”

“Ah, there’s going to be a snowstorm tonight.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Yamato pointed out the door behind him, and sure enough it had already started to snow lightly since Taichi had arrived. As Taichi took a moment to stare at it in both mild horror and embarrassment, Yamato placed his bundles down by his newly acquired stove and then returned to shut the door.

Taichi was feeling more foolish about his intentions by the second, “Well, I thought you might not know about it and that it would be really cold out here so I brought you some blankets and stuff. To make sure you were alright.”

He might have completely underestimated Yamato, and acted yet again on a completely foolish impulse, _and_ completely embarrassed himself in the process, but the look of pure disbelief and gratitude in those blue eyes when Yamato realized the lengths Taichi had gone to just for him was worth it all. Taichi had about fifteen whole seconds to drink it in and memorize it before Yamato hid his feelings behind his typical steeled expression and a laugh, “Okay, but what about _you_?”

That was the question everyone kept asking him tonight, and the one he had not sufficiently considered regardless. He shrugged. “I’m going to head back to school, it’s still not too bad yet.”

“That is a terrible idea.” Yamato retorted. He came to sit on the cot beside Taichi (he had the instinct to pick up his harmonica and put it aside before he sat), “It might not be snowing a lot yet, but with the way the wind is blowing it was already starting to look like white out conditions out there. And if you were to get lost . . .”

He would be dead was the conclusion to that sentence neither of them seemed to want to say aloud.

“. . . Shit.” Was all Taichi supplied instead. He really was such an idiot. And worst of all, Yamato probably thought he was twice the idiot for actually believing that he would need Taichi’s help, when Yamato was obviously the one here who had his shit together.

“You might as well stay here, then.” Yamato offered exasperatedly. Or more accurately, as if he were putting effort into sounding as exasperated about the idea as possible.

“Seriously, you don’t mind?”

Sitting right next to each other on the cot they were now turned face to face, so close they were almost touching. This close Taichi could look deep into Yamato’s eyes. At first they wore an expression that could not have more clearly said “well, you already showed up uninvited and I can’t very well turn you away” if he’d actually spoken the words aloud. Gradually, though, it was replaced by something warmer. Taichi didn’t have time to interpret the change before Yamato seemed unable to hold his gaze any longer and quickly turned away.

“Sure. I mean, your lack of self-preservation obviously can’t be helped, and I don’t need your frozen corpse on my conscience.”

Taichi grinned, remembering how Yamato had made a similar comment about self-preservation the last time he’d been here. It almost felt like an inside joke between them, which he liked the idea of even if it came at his expense. For his part the werewolf seemed too anxious to wait for Taichi to respond, “Anyway, c’mon, I’ve got noodles.”

Yamato got up from the cot and began busying himself with lighting a fire in the stove and setting water to boil atop of it. Within a few minutes they were both sitting cross-legged on the floor eating cup noodles.

They had settled into another companionable silence, the sort Yamato seemed to enjoy but that just about sent Taichi climbing up the walls in frustration. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t stand it. 

“So, why don’t you go to school?” He asked, remembering a comment Yamato had made earlier about working his schedule around Hikarigaoka.

Yamato fixed him with a deadpan stare. “Sometimes you say things so ridiculous I really can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“Well, I’m not joking!” Taichi replied defensively. “I was just curious, jeez. 

Yamato sighed. “Have you ever gone to school with a werewolf before?”

“I mean, no, but--”

“That’s because no school would ever let one, would ever let _me_ in.” Taichi opened his mouth to respond, but Yamato cut him off, “And don’t say I could just pretend not to be a werewolf at school, because people always find out eventually, and lying about it only makes them angrier when they do.”

Taichi’s mouth closed tight. That had been exactly what he was going to suggest, as he was quite confident Yamato would be able to pull it off. But he thought about the anger and fear he had felt when he’d realized what Yamato really was after only a few moments of “deception,” and how upset he’d been at the thought that normal people passing him by in his day-to-day life could actually be werewolves, and he could appreciate where Yamato was coming from.

Yamato spoke like he knew from experience, though, which raised another question for Taichi, “How long have you been a werewolf anyway?”

Blond brows crinkled slightly at the question, “I’m 16, but that’s sort of a strange way of asking.”

That was a surprising answer. “But you haven’t been a werewolf that long, right? Like, you didn’t seriously get bit when you were a baby?!”

Yamato put his cup noodle down on the floor in order to cradle his head in both of his hands. “I didn’t get bi--oh my--” He picked his head back up to look at Taichi, took a deep breath, and tried again, “I was born a werewolf, Taichi. You don’t turn into a werewolf after one bites you. That’s a myth.”

And once again, as it was so often wont to do when Yamato was involved, Taichi’s worldview came crashing down around him.

“Wait, _really_? You mean, it’s not actually . . . contagious?” He regretted the word choice the moment it was out of his mouth, but wasn’t sure there was a nicer way to put it.

Yamato rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s not. Is being an elf or a fae contagious? Is being a _human_ contagious?”

“. . . No. When you put it like that it sounds stupid.”

“Exactly.”

Taichi sighed. “Okay. I’m done asking stupid questions for tonight. I think I’ve officially maxed out my ability to handle the not-so-stupid answers.”

Yamato looked relieved. After a moment of thought, Taichi added, “But, uh, seriously . . .thanks. For being patient with all of my stupid questions.” 

Yamato looked him in the eye for a long, appraising moment. Then he shrugged, “Thanks for being willing to hear the answers.”

Yamato cleaned up their dinner, and when he opened the front door to dump out the remains of the now no-longer-boiling water (confirming Taichi’s previous theory about the lack of running water in the shack), he struggled to get it closed again against the fierce wind. In the minute or two that it took him to finally force it shut, a 2 inch pile of snow had blown in and accumulated at his feet. “I guess it’s a good thing you stayed.” 

Taichi stared at the snow in terror, acutely aware of the trouble he would be in now if not for Yamato’s generosity. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Another moment of silence was broken by a huge yawn from Yamato. “I don’t know about you, but it’s bedtime for me. I think walking back here in that wind took more out of me than I thought.” 

Yamato straightened out the blanket already on his cot before grabbing Taichi’s duffle bag and opening it up to inspect the promised extra blankets. Taichi watched him curiously until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Okay, I know I promised I wouldn’t ask any more stupid questions tonight, but--”

“No, I am not nocturnal.”

Taichi felt relieved not to have had to finish the thought before Yamato did it for him. He was also impressed by how quickly Yamato had realized what he was getting at. Or maybe the question was really just that stupid. He wasn't about to press the issue regardless. “Cool.” 

Yamato took two of the blankets Taichi had brought and draped them atop his own on the bed. Then he took the third, smaller one and, smartly, stuffed it in the threshold of the front door to prevent some of the draft coming in. “For real, these are going to be so helpful tonight, so thanks again f--”

“You mean ‘thanks’ for the first time.” Taichi corrected, teasing.

Yamato’s entire face turned scarlet. Taichi took a moment to revel in the knowledge that it was, in fact, possible to get Yamato flustered, and to be proud that he’d finally managed to do so.

Plus, he was cute when he blushed.

“Did I really not . . . wow, s-sorry. I really do appreciate what you did for me tonight.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I knew.” Yamato’s eyes were not nearly as good at hiding his feeling as his mouth was, after all.

Mishap aside, Yamato removed his socks and slid under the now plentiful covers of the bed. He did not tuck himself in, though. Instead he pressed his body as close up to the wall as he could manage, held the covers up, and look at Taichi expectantly. “You coming to bed now or what?”

Taichi regretted taking pleasure it making Yamato blush just a few moments before, because this was the worst kind of karma. He felt the blood rush to his face so hard and so fast he was shocked he didn’t pass out. “W-what?!”

Yamato rolled his eyes at him for the second time that night. “Look, I’m all about hospitality, but I’m not about to sleep on the freezing cold floor tonight. If you want to take one of these blankets and tough it out, be my guest, but it makes a lot more sense for us to just both be warm.”

Yamato’s words made sense rationally, but Taichi wasn’t sure how he was to be expected to think rationally when Yamato’s eyes were _so blue_ , and they were looking at him like that. He was also reminded of how Yamato had already slept on the floor for his sake once before, but that train of thought was a mistake because then he remembered how Yamato had been sleeping _naked_ on the floor, and now he was thinking about Yamato’s soft, strong body again which was the last thing he needed as he was seriously considering crawling into bed with him. Suddenly he wondered whether he should have just taken his chances with the blizzard.

His brain waged a battle with itself, but to his credit rational thought won out in the end. His goal in being here was to not freeze, after all, so it only made sense to take the path of least resistance. Besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t like the idea of sleeping right next to Yamato, he just wasn’t entirely confident he would survive the ordeal. There were worse ways to die, though, right?

All of these thoughts must have shown very clearly on his face, because by the time he took the few steps towards the cot and slipped off his socks, Yamato was grinning at him like mad. 

He still had his jacket on as well, to fight the draft, but figuring that would leave him sweating if he wore it to bed, he decided to shrug out of it as well. It was his varsity jacket for soccer, one of the prizes he had won for earning his spot on the senior high team. It even had his name embroidered on the sleeve, and he had to admit he’d taken every opportunity to wear it since receiving it, it had made him so giddy. Now, as he slid his arms out of if and laid it atop his duffle bag on the floor, Yamato watched him with a new sort of expression on his face.

“...You play soccer, right?” Yamato asked him as he finally lay down on the cot and pulled the covers over the two of them. The question was something of a surprise. After all, he was fairly certain it was the first time Yamato had actively solicited information from Taichi, whereas Taichi felt like he’d been doing nothing but playing 20 questions with Yamato since they’d met.

“Yeah, best sport there is, after all.”

Yamato smiled sadly. “I used to really like playing soccer when I was kid. Well, I never actually had any other kids to play with, so I guess it’s more like I liked to kick a ball around by myself. But the idea of soccer was appealing."

Suddenly Taichi understood a little better the expression Yamato had been wearing when he’d watched Taichi remove his varsity jacket. He frowned. “It’s not fair, you know. That you’re not allowed to go to school.”

Yamato snorted. “Yeah, no shit.”

Right, Taichi thought, considering his surroundings once more, Yamato probably had a very intimate understanding of the phrase “not fair.”

Speaking of intimacy, they were so close to each other on the cot Taichi could barely stand it. It had been one thing sitting right next to each other, just enough without being too close, but now that they were lying together on the bed clearly only made for one they were definitely in each other’s personal space. The only consolation he had was that Yamato had closed his eyes and was breathing slowly and deliberately, but Taichi could tell he was definitely not asleep yet, so maybe that meant he was feeling the effects of their closeness as well.

Taichi had just resigned himself to attempting the same method of willing his heightened awareness of Yamato’s presence away and closed his eyes when Yamato spoke again.

“Taichi?”

Taichi opened his eyes. Yamato was looking at him with another hard to read expression, but it was a hopeful sort of look if he were to try to describe it, and wow, he could just lay here while Yamato looked at him like that for the rest of his life and he was sure he would never need anything else. He nodded for Yamato to continue.

“I’m glad you came back.” 

Taichi could only laugh a little at that, happy about the revelation but nevertheless confused, “Then why’d you tell me not to?”

Yamato averted his gaze, “I didn’t really want to. But it was the safer choice, and I’ve made it this far by playing it safe, so that’s what I did. I really regretted it though. So thanks for not listening, I guess.”

Taichi grinned, “Lucky for you not listening is a speciality of mine, then.”

Now it was Yamato’s turn to laugh, “Yeah, I’m starting to see that, Mr. Go Out Into the Woods On a Werewolf Hunt Alone. Twice. During A Blizzard.”

“Okay, okay, I get it; learn to pull some punches, would ya?” Taichi joked, shoving Yamato lightly on the shoulder as he did so. It was merely a playful gesture, except they were squished so close together that even that tiniest bit of jostling caused their noses to brush together. Taichi recoiled, horrified that he might have crossed some boundary of Yamato’s. 

Yamato was just looking at him with that vaguely hopeful expression again. And yeah, Taichi could have just laid there and drowned in it. But there was also a moment here, hanging heavy in the very limited space between them, and in the spirit of not listening to reason, which Taichi had just so proudly boasted as a skill of his, he reached out and he grabbed hold of it.

Which is to say, he closed the distance between them and he kissed Yamato. It was a gentle kiss at first, sweet and slow, but that didn’t last long, because it was as if some sort of switch had flipped in Yamato once they had begun.

Once Taichi had broken the ice Yamato promptly took the lead. They’d been lying face to face, but before he really even had time to registering it was happening Taichi had been pushed over onto his back and Yamato was on top of him and crushing their lips into another kiss that was harder and faster and desperate.

Before long Yamato had moved on again and was peppering urgent kissed down his jaw and his neck, while Taichi couldn’t manage much besides writhing helplessly beneath him. When Yamato reached the junction of his neck and his collarbone he bit down, hard, and Taichi yelped.

Yamato’s attention remained focused on that spot for a while, alternating between sucking on it, and lapping at it with his tongue. Meanwhile a knot was forming in Taichi’s stomach, despite himself, and despite everything Yamato had told him that night. _It’s not contagious. . ._ he reminded himself, and then immediately hated himself for having to do so, _it’s just a hickey . . ._

Yet another change of tactics had occurred however, as Yamato had abandoned his work of art already swollen and red on Taichi’s neck and slid himself downward. The blankets had slid off of the bed behind him, and as Yamato reached his stomach he pushed Taichi’s shirt right up to his armpits as a cold draft of air blasted across his chest. It was a beautiful, stark contrast to the hot tongue that languidly dragged from the waistband of his pants straight up over his belly button, and that was the end of Taichi’s ability to form coherent thoughts for the night. He groaned.

Yamato made his way up Taichi’s abdomen the same way he’d traveled down his neck--alternating kisses, nips, and licks all the way. By the time he reached his nipples Taichi was keening beneath him, desperately grasping at Yamato’s hair and the sheets below him, anything he could get a hold on, for purchase, certain he would float right off the bed into oblivion if he didn’t.

When Yamato bit down hard on one of his nipples Taichi gasped, but it brought him back to reality just enough that he brought a hand up to press against Yamato’s chest and slow the onslaught. “H-hey, hey,” his voice sounded raspy and breathless, and it was still a struggle to string words together in a way that made sense, “slow down, how come you get to have all the fun?”

So manic had Yamato been since they had started Taichi was not sure he would listen, but the message seemed to get through as Yamato backed off slightly. Taichi took advantage of the opening to sit up so they could get chest to chest and remove his shirt properly before Yamato was right back in his lap again. In an endeavor to even the playing field he started to remove Yamato’s shirt as well, but that was still on all the way and they were both so frantic at this point that it was a bit of a struggle. The collar got caught on one of Yamato’s ears on its way up and over his head and he actually _growled_ as he attempted to shake himself free, and _that_ reaction went straight to Taichi’s dick.

Once free of the offending shirt Taichi and Yamato were face to face for the first time in a while.They were both panting desperately and Yamato’s pupils were blown so wide Taichi could barely tell his eyes were blue any longer. His patience with Taichi’s redirection had obviously run out and he dove in for another kiss. It was sloppy and needy and Yamato seemed to be maintaining his grip on reality via clawing onto Taichi’s back which was not going to be pleasant in the morning, but it was perfect.

_Hungry_. That was the word, if he needed to choose one, to describe Yamato in this moment. And yeah, this was more the sort of behavior Taichi would have expected from a werewolf, but why did he ever think that was a bad thing again?

Yamato grinded against his lap and Taichi moaned. Shit, they were both so hard. But this that was happening right now, this was exactly what Taichi wanted. Yamato’s lips against his, hands all over each other, bodies sliding together. Yamato seemed to understand as well, because for all that he had apparently gone completely wild, they found their rhythm right in this moment, and he did not attempt to take things any further either.

They made out like that for what seemed like hours. Taichi knew that couldn’t be the case, realistically, but between the haze of his lust and the lack of windows to the outside world, he’d lost all sense of time. All he knew was, when they had stopped, and Yamato had somehow had the sense to drag the covers back over them before passing out right on his chest, Taichi fell into what might have been the most peaceful sleep of his life.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Waking up the next morning did not prove to be nearly as peaceful as falling asleep had been for Taichi. For starters, he was achingly hard, a problem that would have to go woefully unaddressed. His muscles were stiff from having slept crammed into a space too small for him. And the scratches and bite marks that littered his body from the night before had definitely made themselves apparent. 

There was a heavy weight pressing upon his chest as well, but considering that was Yamato, still sleeping soundly and using him like a pillow, he didn’t really mind.

As if he’d heard Taichi’s thoughts settling on him, Yamato began to stir. He yawned and languidly stretched out his body before opening his eyes, still somewhat cloudy with sleep, and looking up at Taichi.

Taichi grinned, “Good morning, sunshine.”

“Mornin’.” Yamato mumbled. Much like the last time Taichi had spent the night here, he seemed a bit slow to fully wake up. He was looking bemusedly at Taichi below him for a moment or two, before he fully remembered himself, and why the brunet was here, and what had transpired between them the night before. He sat straight up, eyes wide, immediately losing the sleepiness that had enveloped him. “Oh. Wow. Um, sorry about last night. I can get a little . . . intense. I would have warned you, but I wasn’t expecting—"

“It’s fine,” Taichi assured him, laughing lightly. He didn’t think he would ever tire of how cute the blond was when he was flustered. "I was very okay with what happened last night, and I still am. You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, I really do.” Yamato asserted, and suddenly this conversation was steering in a direction that Taichi did not like at all. Yamato didn’t continue right away, but Taichi could tell he wasn’t finished, seemingly searching for the right words to say. Not much apparently came to him, because after a very pregnant pause, he sighed and simply said, “Taichi, we can’t.”

Taichi sat up now as well, trying to contain the anger that was brewing inside of him. “Seriously? First you push me away, then you tell me you’re happy I’m back, and now you’re pushing again. What do you actually want from me?”

Obviously not one to back down, Yamato’s anger began to rise to meet Taichi’s, “I’m not talking about what I want. I meant what I said last night. I want you to stay . . .”

“Great. That’s what I want too. Nice and simple.”

“. . . but it’s _not_ that simple.”

“Why not?” Taichi challenged, unwilling to accept Yamato’s attempt to resign them to ‘this just won’t work’ territory before they’d even tried.

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a werewolf. And you’re not. It’s not a combination that works out, historically.”

Taichi could only laugh incredulously. “Really? I mean, I see how that will come with some challenges, but don’t be so defeatist. How many people do you know who’ve ever even attempted to make a human-werewolf relationship work?”

After all, Taichi could never have imagined even talking to a werewolf before he met Yamato. The notion that someone else might have tried to make this—whatever this was that was brewing between him and Yamato—work in the past was inconceivable to him.

But Yamato was not laughing with him. Yet he didn’t seem angry anymore, either—just sad. “My parents,” was his solemn reply.

That was a revelation Taichi was going to need to unpack later, but the look on Yamato’s face was enough for him to know now was not the time to ask. That alone was more than enough to legitimize Yamato’s concerns anyway, not that Taichi was any more ready to give up.

The silence that was settling between them was one Taichi knew he needed to break sooner rather than later. He was done arguing, though. Reaching out and gently tucking a stray hair behind Yamato’s ear, Taichi spoke again, still light-hearted but much softer than before, “Well, you already know I’m not going to listen no matter how many times you tell me to give up on you. So you can try to out-stubborn me if you want, or we could just try this and see what happens.”

Yamato gave him a long, appraising look before responding. “. . . You’re something else, you know that?”

Taichi grinned, “I’ve been told that a few times.” 

“A month ago you thought I was a monster.”

“And now I’m sure I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my life.”

Despite the fact that his resolve was clearly fading, Yamato still remained unwilling to give up his protest. He shook his head, “You’re going to get tired of sneaking around and hiding me from everyone.”

Still, Yamato’s guard had come down significantly since their little argument began. It left Taichi just emboldened enough to lean forward until their foreheads were pressed together. “Come on, have a little more faith in me than that.”

Yamato didn’t pull away from Taichi’s display of affection. Face to face, and with daylight creeping in through the cracks of the window boards instead of moonlight, Yamato’s eyes almost felt as if they were looking right into his soul as the werewolf once again spent a long moment considering Taichi’s words before he replied. “I do. Somehow I really do feel like I can trust you. So all right, let’s see where this takes us.”

Taichi’s smile was ear to ear. Yamato returned a small smile of his own.

They just sat like that for a moment, unmoving. Yamato’s eyes briefly wandered Taichi’s body before landing on the hickey on his collarbone. His smile turned to a grin.

Seeing what Yamato was looking at, Taichi backed up and offered a grin of his own. “Yeah, you’re real proud of that one, aren’t you?”

The mischievous glint in his blue eyes was more than enough to answer that question.

“So speaking of that uh, ‘intensity’ of yours,” Taichi recalled Yamato’s own description of his behavior the previous evening. He had taken on a mischievous expression of his own as he spoke, “is that a ‘werewolf thing’?”

Pink stained Yamato’s cheeks. “Some uh. Some instincts are a little more powerful for me than the average person.”

Taichi tried to stop himself laughing and only succeeded in causing himself to snort.

Yamato took it surprisingly in stride, looking bashful but not particularly upset. He shrugged, “Not one of the greatest perks of being me.”

Taichi grinned lecherously, “I beg to differ.”

That was all the hint Yamato needed. He closed the distance between them once again, as they resumed their activities from the previous evening.

* * *

The snow raged throughout Saturday. With the conditions as they were, Taichi had no choice but to remain in the shack. Not that he was feeling much regret over being stuck. The boys spent most of the day cloistered together in bed; it only made sense, after all, to stay beneath the warmth of the blankets when it was so bitter cold outside. Of course, the opportunity to further explore each other’s bodies was not lost on them either. 

By Saturday evening, Taichi had accrued an impressive collection of hickeys. Yamato had cooled off considerably since their first encounter, but his penchant for biting had not waned in the slightest. When they were simply laying together Yamato liked to retrace his path across Taichi’s body, running his fingers over the red spots gently as if taking stock of the marks he had left.

Yet they had spent much of their time just talking as well. It was a little hard to get Yamato going, but Taichi loved watching the way his blue eyes lit up once he managed to get him speaking to a subject he was passionate about. Mostly their conversations were light, about nothing in particular, or whatever subjects fleetingly came to mind. And for really the first time, Taichi had the opportunity to get to know Yamato the person rather than Yamato the werewolf. He was sharp as a tack, and mostly self-taught through reading, which Taichi found endlessly impressive. He had a love of music, although he could not be persuaded to play the harmonica he kept with him in the shack. He also had a little brother, although they apparently had not seen each other in a very long time. Taichi did not dare pry any further into Yamato’s family situation after the revelation about Yamato’s parents, and how upset it had obviously made him.

That night they were taking one of their rare reprieves from the cot to eat dinner, sitting shoulder to shoulder in front of the stove, jackets on and blankets wrapped around them. They began their meal in companionable silence while they ate. Surprisingly, this time Yamato was the one to break it.

 “What do you study at school, Taichi?”

 The question itself did not come as much of a surprise. Every time Yamato had asked Taichi about himself it had somehow come back to school—whether it was about his soccer team, or his dorm room, or his friends there. It was like Yamato was trying to live vicariously through Taichi’s school experience. Which he probably was, and which the brunet could hardly blame him for. 

“Just the usual stuff,” Taichi answered with a shrug. His course of study was not an area of incredible interest to him, “Literature, math, history. Probably a lot of the same things you read about.”

Yamato shook his head, “I mean, what sort of magic are you learning?”

“Oh. Right.” Taichi had forgotten that this hadn’t come up in his conversations with Yamato yet. “I can’t actually do magic. So none.”

“You can’t do magic? Like, not at all?”

Taichi nodded, “I’ve never managed a bit of it in my life.”

Yamato wore a look of wide-eyed surprised, “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

Taichi would have felt smug to finally be the one pulling the rug out from underneath Yamato’s worldview, if not for the fact that he’d essentially just revealed ‘yes, it really is possible for people to be as mediocre as I am.’ It didn’t particularly bother him to admit to his “shortcomings,” though. He had long ago come to terms with his reality, and was even perfectly happy with his life just as it was. 

“It’s just uncommon enough that people don’t bother worrying about it, I think.” Taichi offered by way of explanation. In reality few people were adept enough at magic to really make a living out of it, particularly amongst humans, but almost everyone could perform at least basic tasks. Taichi was either extraordinary in his lack of talent for it, or very much the opposite.

“Wow.” Yamato obviously thought he had made a conversational blunder, and was feeling awkward. He picked at his food briefly before continuing. “Sorry for bringing it up. I hope I didn’t make you upset.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m cool with it.” Taichi assured earnestly. Then, deciding he would tell Yamato the whole story while he was telling any of it, he added, “The funny thing is I have a little sister, right? And she is crazy powerful when it comes to doing magic. She’s only in junior high, but she’s already surpassing all of the teachers. It’s like she’s this magical prodigy and I’m just Taichi.”

“I don’t think ‘just Taichi’ is a fair way to describe you at all.” Yamato answered firmly. To have Yamato come so quickly to his defense made warmth spread through Taichi’s chest, and a smile spread across his face, even if he hadn’t really taken the self-deprecation that seriously.

Silence settled between them again. Yamato had the look on his face that Taichi had already learned meant he was thinking about what to say, or whether or not to say what was on his mind. Taichi gave him the time to decide, continuing to work on his dinner in the meantime.

When Yamato finally did speak up again his tone was much softer, and almost hesitant, “. . . My little brother is human.”

It took Taichi a moment to process the statement, and even then he still couldn’t fully understand, “What?”

“My little brother is not a werewolf. He is every bit as human as you.” 

Taichi was baffled. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you both half and half?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Yamato sighed sadly, “Not for us. You’re either a werewolf or you’re not. Except even with mixed parents its usually the former. Him being born human is probably about as likely as you being born unable to do magic."

“Geez. . .” Taichi wasn’t sure what to say to Yamato after that. It was one thing for him to have a sister who was much more gifted than he. But Yamato’s brother probably got to lead a totally normal life, go to school, have friends. The chances were slim that he was currently living alone in a shack in the woods. That must be incredibly hard for Yamato. Taichi was impressed that the other boy wasn't more bitter about it. “I guess we both seriously got the short end of the genetic stick, huh?”

That must have been the right thing to say, because the tiniest of smiles broke through Yamato’s melancholy expression. “Yeah, I guess so.”

The remainder of Saturday was uneventful for the pair. The snow had finally come to a stop in the early hours of Sunday morning, and its departure allowed the fear that adults at school would notice his absence creep back into the forefront of Taichi’s mind. It was easy to ignore when there’d been nothing he could do about it. Now he knew he needed to get back before he found himself in serious trouble with no way to explain where he had been.

This time though, instead of being sent away, he was able to leave with a good-bye kiss, and a promise to return as soon as he was able.

* * *

 Koushiro and Jou practically pounced on him when he crept back into their dorm room. They were so frantic he could barely decipher much of what they were saying to him, but obviously they had been frightened for him in his absence. Taichi did feel a bit guilty, now that he was back. He hadn’t been thinking of his friends, who knew he was gone, spending the whole weekend with no way of knowing if he’d safely made it to shelter or not.

“We spend two days worried sick about you,” Jou began anew once everyone had calmed down enough that he could be heard clearly. Now that he could see Taichi was fine he sounded more annoyed that concerned, “wondering if you had frozen to death. Trying to cover for you so none of the teachers notice your gone. And now you stroll in here like it’s no big deal, with this goofy grin on your face, and covered in hickeys! I’m glad to see at least someone has obviously been enjoying himself this weekend!!”

Now Taichi felt very guilty. It wasn’t like there was anything he could have done to assuage his roommates’ concerns—he’d honestly had no intention of getting stranded at the shack for days—but he had run off pretty thoughtlessly, not at all considering the position he was putting them in. His hand came up to cover the aforementioned marks upon his neck, as if hiding them from Jou’s view would cause his shame to disappear as well. 

“I’m sorry. I really did mean to come back, but the storm picked up earlier than anticipated. It was safer to stay put.”

“So you were with Yamato all this time, then?” Koushiro’s question came out sounding a lot more like a statement, but he was still looking at Taichi expectantly. He wanted confirmation for the logical conclusion he’d already drawn.

“Yes.” Taichi admitted sheepishly. He could feel the blush creeping up to his cheeks, but he also couldn’t help smiling goofily again. 

This didn’t seem to have occurred to Jou. Probably he had been so caught up in his consternation at Taichi’s actions that he hadn’t even considered the other person involved. Now he looked horrified, the blood draining from his face. “Wait, he gave you those? But Taichi—"

“It’s not contagious.” Taichi cut Jou off, anticipating his concerns. It hadn’t even been 48 hours ago that Taichi had been concerned about the same thing, after all. “Werewolves are born that way, just like everybody else. He told me so.”

“And you’re positive you can believe him?” Jou had visibly calmed down, but his voice still held a nervous edge. 

“Of course I am!” Taichi nearly snapped, aggravated that he needed to defend Yamato’s character to his friend. “I trust him. And even if I didn’t. . . Yamato. . . he doesn’t seem proud of what he is. I don’t think he would ever put that burden on someone else. Not even someone he really hated.”

“And he obviously doesn’t hate you,” Koushiro interjected, once again coming to the logical conclusion. 

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Taichi agreed, once again unable to wipe the smile off of his face. “I uh, think we’re a thing now? It’s complicated, obviously.”

Jou let out a put upon sigh, “So what you’re saying is you’ll be sneaking out there even more often now?”

“Most likely,” Taichi nodded, “I did promise this time, after all. You still can’t tell though! Thanks for not telling on me this time, by the way.”

Koushiro shook his head, “I don’t know if you should be thanking us. You’re lucky, Taichi, something really bad could have happened.”

“But it didn’t, so it’s all good! Not planning on going back during a blizzard any time soon anyway.”

His roommates exchanged a concerned look, clearly not as convinced as Taichi was that everything would work out. Taichi’s good mood could not be deterred, however. 

At least, not until he remembered he hadn’t even touched any of his homework for the weekend.

In the end, Taichi’s homework had proven powerless to maintain his attention in the face of thoughts of Yamato. Sleeping without the werewolf curled up beside him proved more challenging as well, and Taichi wondered how he’d managed to get so spoiled for it after just two nights. He had it bad, that much was certain.

Altogether it left him exhausted on Monday morning, and anticipating a scolding since he hadn’t gotten any of his assignments done. He was sitting in homeroom that morning with his head on his desk, hoping to get a few extra minutes rest before the teacher began roll call, when he suddenly heard a voice right beside him.

“Looks like _someone_ had a fun weekend.”

Having been half asleep, Taichi jumped slightly at the sudden address. He picked his head up to see Sora smiling coyly at him. At first he had no idea what she meant, but then his hand came to rest on the red marks upon his neck again. Next time he would have to be sure to remind Yamato to focus his attention where it wouldn’t be visible while Taichi was wearing a shirt. 

“You could say that.” Taichi replied, hoping she would leave it at that, but knowing there was really no chance.

Sora just continued to look at him expectantly, her dark eyes appearing impatient and unimpressed with his attempt to dodge the subject. She was his oldest friend, the pair of them having grown close in elementary school. He had also once nursed a fairly significant crush on her, or at least thought he did. When he’d confessed his feelings in junior high however she had very kindly turned him down, and when pressed as to why had gently explained there was no way things would work out between them, as Taichi obviously did not swing that way.

To this day he remained uncertain how she had figured it out before he did. Regardless, the point was that at times she knew him better than he knew himself. He would not be able to explain this situation away so easily.

“I met a guy.”

Sora crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Yeah, and?”

“He doesn’t go here.” Taichi offered, trying to provide information that might satisfy his friend’s curiosity without revealing too much. 

“Okay. . .” Sora came back at him, clearly not satisfied, “So what’s his name? What’s he like?”

Taichi frowned. He felt badly about hiding things from Sora. He wasn’t sure he’d ever even kept a little secret from her, let alone something this significant. But it wasn’t really his secret to share this time. “I can’t tell you.”

Now Sora was frowning as well. “Why not?”

“He’s. . . shy, I guess?” Not exactly the actual reason, but it was definitely true regardless, “He asked me not to tell people about him.”

Sora still looked a little disappointed, but she nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. Hopefully he’ll come around eventually. Let him know I don’t bite, will ya?”

Taichi laughed, the irony of reassuring Yamato of such a thing not lost on him. “Will do.”

He would like to be able to share this part of his life with Sora, after all. Even more so, he couldn’t help but feel like Yamato and Sora would get along well if they were to meet. That would definitely be a long time coming though.

The teacher began roll then, and Taichi’s day proceeded fairly predictably. He was reprimanded in every class for not getting his assignments done. He was tired, and he really just wanted to zone out and daydream the day away; and yet, he also couldn’t help but think of Yamato, who was so desperate to come to school and would think Taichi so lucky just to be able to be here. It was surprisingly motivating, and by the time he was sitting at lunch he had paid more attention than he probably ever had to a day of school in his entire life.

His attempt at a relaxing lunch was interrupted as he heard someone call “Taichiiii” and he was crashed into from behind, a pair of arms coming to wrap around his shoulders in a haphazard hug.

“Oof,” after taking a second to regain his composure, Taichi craned his neck to see who had tackled him. His findings did not come as much of a shock, “Hi Mimi.”

“Taichi, I heard you have a new boyfriend!” Mimi said with a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows. As was typical, she had skipped the pleasantries and gotten right to the point.

Like Koushiro, Mimi was a year Taichi’s junior. Unlike his other friends, she was fae. She was cute, objectively so, with long, strawberry blond hair and a bright twinkle in her eyes. Both of his roommates were sent tripping over themselves whenever she was around. Taichi didn’t have the heart to tell them that while Mimi enjoyed being the center of attention and therefore would flirt with just about everyone now and again, she seemed to especially enjoy flirting with a girl in his class named Meiko.

“Word travels fast,” Taichi replied, turning his attention back to his food despite knowing there was even less chance of Mimi leaving it at that then there had been with Sora. “I’m sure you also already heard I’m not going to tell you who he is.”

“Boo, you’re no fun at all!” Mimi whined, an exaggerated pout gracing her soft features. She shook Taichi’s shoulders almost aggressively. “Come on, we need deets! Who is this mystery man of yours?! You’ve got to at least tell us if he’s cute!”

Sora had caught up with Mimi now, and was offering Taichi an apologetic smile in light of the fae’s overly enthusiastic behavior. Given that she was likely the one who had told Mimi about his “new boyfriend” in the first place, Taichi silently decided that he only partially accepted the apology.

“He’s very cute,” Taichi answered, knowing that he had to give Mimi something or else she would never let it go, “Blond hair, blue eyes, kind of slender.”

“Ah, so you go for the cliché pretty boy type, huh? No surprise there.” The girls had joined him sitting at the table, and before Taichi could ask Mimi what exactly she meant by that, she had launched into a rambling attempt to guess what his mystery boyfriend was like. By the time lunch was over she had concluded that Yamato must be some sort of spy working undercover for the government, and that was why he was so insistent on keeping his identity a secret.

If only they knew the truth was even more unbelievable than that.

* * *

 

Taichi had a soccer game the following Saturday morning. The early snowfall had thrown them for a bit of a loop, and left the field in less than ideal conditions, but they had managed to clean it up enough that they could finish up their last few games of the season.

The team returned to the locker room covered from head to toe in mud and with high spirits, as they had won the game. His teammates attempted to get him to come celebrate with them, but after a week without seeing Yamato he was getting anxious to return to the shack in the woods. So Taichi made a feeble excuse about having too much homework, took a quick shower, and snuck off.

When he arrived, Yamato was curled up by the wood-burning stove, reading one of his books. The werewolf was immediately alert when the door creaked open, but relaxed visibly when he saw Taichi step through the threshold. He dropped his book and hurried to embrace Taichi.

Taichi wrapped his own arms around Yamato in return, “Hey, don’t stop reading just for me."

“I’m more interested in seeing you right now, anyway.” Yamato replied before burying his face in the crook of Taichi’s neck. More hesitantly, he whispered, “I was a little worried you changed your mind and wouldn’t come back.”

“I told you to have faith in me, remember?” Taichi replied softly. It was hard to be upset about Yamato’s concerns; chances were, the blond was used to being let down by people.

“Mm,” Yamato agreed simply, and Taichi could feel him smiling against his skin. Yamato inhaled deeply before adding, “You smell nice.”

“Thanks—that would be the aromatic scent of whichever soap was closest to my hand in the showers.” Taichi grinned. 

Yamato pulled back to give him a look that suggested he found Taichi utterly ridiculous. Then with a grin of his own he said, “You mean spearmint, bergamot, and maybe a bit of lemon zest.”

“Impressive.”

Still grinning, Yamato tap himself on the tip of his nose, “Werewolf nose.”

As silly as it was, it was the first time Taichi had heard Yamato refer to any of his abilities or habits as a werewolf proudly, rather than acting ashamed of them. It was also insanely adorable. In response Taichi smiled and leaned forward to rub the tips of their noses together.

Yamato took it a step further, leaning in just the bit more that was needed for their lips to press together. It was a soft kiss, gentle and slow, not at all like the frantic making out they had spent most of the previous weekend engaged in. There would be plenty of time for that later—they had the entire afternoon ahead of them.

And Taichi knew he should leave it at just the afternoon; it would be pushing his luck to spend the night again after he’d somehow gotten away with it just the week before. But as they broke apart their kiss and Yamato looked into his eyes as if he were the only other person in the entire world, he knew it was going to be difficult to tear himself away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm as slow as ever, but I promise I am still working on this! I would say one, maybe two chapters remain.
> 
> The girls unfortunately don't have much of a role to play in this story, but it felt wrong to leave them out entirely, especially Sora, who is so important to Taichi. So here they are, however brief. They'll likely show up a bit again.
> 
> Still unbeta'd.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, not that it's anything to be proud of given the last chapter was closer to July 4th, but I set a goal for myself for this one to go up on Halloween and here I am, just barely making it lol! Happy Halloween everyone.
> 
> This one is long as hell, so much so I almost split it up, but this is how I intended the story to flow so I'm going with it. I can also now firmly say it is the second to last chapter! So you only have to put up with me and my embarrassingly slow updates once more. Thank you so much for having patience with me and sticking with the story! Enjoy :).

As the weeks went by, Taichi grew bolder in taking his trips to visit Yamato. Soccer season came to an end, which left him free almost every weekend. And the more times he snuck off to the shack in the woods without getting caught, the easier it became to justify the next trip. Koushiro and Jou had mostly resigned themselves to the trouble, not even bothering to protest Taichi leaving by the time January had rolled around. 

But winter had proven itself more of an obstacle to his and Yamato’s time together than Taichi could have anticipated. True to his word after the first snowstorm incident, Taichi knew he couldn’t risk attempting to go on days when there was even a chance of snow, which happened more often than he would have liked. Even worse was being stuck inside his dorm room all day during the snow, beside himself with worry about Yamato, and with no way of knowing whether or not the other boy was all right until the next time he would be able to visit. But this was obviously not Yamato’s first winter on his own; the blond knew what he was doing, and he always got by just fine.

A few times, Taichi had attempted to convince Yamato to meet him in the village on a Saturday, so that they could go on a proper date. But Yamato was unrelenting in his refusal to that suggestion. He preferred to fly under the radar when he had to go into town, and he insisted it would raise too many questions if one of the other students from the school was to see them together. Taichi supposed he could see where Yamato was coming from, even if it left him a little disappointed.

The disappointment never lasted long, though. Spending time with Yamato was more than enough for Taichi, regardless of where they were or what they were doing. And being alone just meant he didn’t have to share the blond’s attention with anyone else. 

As the weather started warming up and the ground defrosting, spending time together got even easier. For months, weeks at a time would go by before they were able to see each other. And while the expression of overwhelming happiness on Yamato’s face when Taichi would finally walk through the door again after so much time passed was almost worth it, the spring had brought about a welcomed change as far as Taichi was concerned. Now they were together almost every weekend.

Spring had also brought with it one of the greatest opportunities for Taichi to get out to the shack in the woods thus far: Spring Break. Taichi had an entire week off from school, and he had every intention of taking advantage of it. In what he humbly considered a stroke of brilliance, Taichi had informed the school that he would be returning home to stay with his family for the week, while he’d told his parents he was opting to stay at school. In reality neither was the truth--Taichi would of course be spending the entire week with Yamato.

“I hope you realize just how much trouble you’re going to be in if you get caught this time.” Jou stated in a superior tone as they were all packing up their things for the week long holiday. As much as he had learned to sigh and look the other way when Taichi was sneaking around, this time the shenanigans were apparently too much for him to disregard.

“Eh, I’ve made it this long without getting caught, haven’t I?” Taichi replied noncommittally, stuffing a few items haphazardly into his duffle bag as he spoke.

“Doesn’t that mindset seem the tiniest bit like pushing your luck?” Koushiro contributed. He’d been even less likely to try and tell Taichi what to do when it came to Yamato, but his comment seemed less like an admonishment and more like a casual observation. He hadn’t even looked up from his task of carefully tucking a few of his books away into his suitcase as he spoke. 

Taichi only shrugged. “It’s not just that. It’s less likely I’ll get caught this time than ever. No one at school’s going to be looking for me, after all, and unless there’s some sort of emergency my parents won’t have any reason to check on me either.” 

Jou, seemingly unconvinced at how foolproof this plan was, tried to continue, “Yeah, but Taichi--” 

“I even bribed Hikari to play along for me. I’ll be paying my debt back in ice cream ‘til I’m an old man, but seeing as she agreed to do it without even knowing why, I’d say it’s worth it.” 

Thank god for his sister’s sweet tooth, Taichi thought idly. Tossing a final pair of socks into his duffle bag, he zipped it up soundly. Now he just needed to wait until they were ready to head to the train station, and from there he would sneak away and head to Yamato’s place. There would be so many students around the platform it was likely to be a piece of cake.

“It’s your funeral, I guess.” Jou finally conceded. He lifted the strap of his messenger bag over his shoulder. “Should we head out then? We wouldn’t want to miss our train.” 

The last was offered with a very pointed look in Taichi’s direction. Taichi just grinned, “Yeah, better hurry.”

On the platform Sora approached him as well. “A little birdie told me you were up to quite the scheme today, Yagami.”

“If that ‘little birdie’ was Hikari, do me a favor and let her know that cost her a month’s worth of ice cream off our deal.”

Sora chose to pointedly ignore his attempt at changing the subject, “Should I assume this has something to do with that mystery boy of yours?” 

His lack of response must have been more than enough answer for her, because after a brief pause she continued without waiting for him, “I’m not going to bother telling you you’re being an idiot, since you already know it, but just try to be a careful idiot, okay?”

“Aren’t I always?”

Sora could only roll her eyes at him, “Have a nice week, you dork.”

He waved at her as she got on the train and took his opportunity to slip away before it was gone. 

* * *

 

As he approached the familiar looking shack, Taichi heard a less than familiar sound. It put him on guard for a second or two until he realized just what he was hearing--it was a harmonica. Yamato must be inside playing. Even as Yamato had grown comfortable and started letting his guard down more around Taichi, getting him to play in front of the brunet was one bridge they hadn’t managed to cross just yet. It seemed like Yamato was too embarrassed, although hearing the sound of his playing coming through the thin walls of the shack now Taichi couldn’t understand why. Yamato was talented; the song he played was beautiful, smooth if a little sad. A part of Taichi would have stood by and listened to it all day, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the part of him too giddy to finally see Yamato again, waiting for him just on the other side of the door. 

The harmonica song jerked to a stop when Taichi stepped through the door. Yamato looked almost horrified to have been caught, eyes wide and the lightest of blushes tinting his cheeks. 

“What, aren’t you happy to see me?” Taichi said, choosing to act like he hadn’t heard anything. While it was fun to tease Yamato most of the time, Taichi knew well enough by now when to do so would be taking it too far.

After a moment of surprise Yamato had been able to regain his composure. He stood up and closed the distance between them, lightly rubbing their noses together before pressing his forehead to Taichi’s. “Of course I am. I’m glad you’re here. You’re _sure_ this is okay though, right?”

Taichi groaned. “Not you, too. I already had to justify myself like three times today! Of course it’s okay. And I did it for us, didn’t I?” 

“That’s exactly the problem,” Yamato replied seriously, “If you were to get in trouble because of me . . . I could never forgive myself for that.”

From the look in Yamato’s eyes, Taichi couldn’t shake the feeling he was talking about something much bigger than just sneaking around outside of school. Regardless, this was not the tone he intended for their uninterrupted week together to begin on, and he was not about to allow it to go unchecked. “Good thing you won’t have to worry about me getting in trouble, then! Now come on, I just walked all the way here and I’m starving. I went into town and got us all kinds of food for the week the other day, check it out.”

Taichi shrugged his backpack off of his back and placed it on the ground beside him; it had been emptied of all of his school supplies and filled with the groceries he’d bought in preparation for his trip. Fortunately this seemed to be sufficient to redirect Yamato’s attention, as he dropped to his knees and began picking through the bags contents. While he was busy with that Taichi strode across the room to drop the duffle bag full of his necessities at the foot of the cot, upon which he then sat.

 Yamato wrinkled his nose, “Taichi, there’s nothing but junk in here.”

“Whaddaya mean? Everything I got is totally delicious!”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t, but you could have at least gotten some healthy stuff, too. At least there’s rice . . .And I still have a few vegetables left . . .”

At this point Yamato was mumbling to himself more than he was speaking to Taichi. The rice seemed to be what he settled upon, and he set to cooking. Taichi had lay back on the cot with his hands folded behind his head, watching as Yamato prepared the stove. Yamato was an excellent cook. It was a skill likely born out of necessity, but that made it no less impressive. Yamato got so focused when he was cooking, too; Taichi enjoyed watching him work.

He must have been a bit too wrapped up in watching him this time, though, because Taichi didn’t even notice the werewolf watching him right back, “You know, for the one who complained about being starving, you’re not doing much to help make dinner.”

For his part Taichi was comparatively useless in the kitchen. “Hey, if I knew what I was doing I probably wouldn’t have gotten so much ‘junk,’ as you so eloquently put it. I can help if you really want, but we’re probably both better off if I don’t.”

Yamato sighed, “Fair enough. But in that case, you’re gunna start learning. Come here.”

Taichi sat beside Yamato in front of the stove and watched as he tossed some of the aforementioned vegetables into the dish. It looked like he was working on a stir fry. Taichi wasn’t sure how the close up view was really going to help him learn to cook any better, but he also definitely wasn’t complaining about being closer to Yamato. He nudged the blond’s shoulder with his own; Yamato turned his head to quickly grin at him before returning his attention to the task at hand. 

A question came to Taichi’s mind as he watched Yamato work. “What did you do about food before you got this stove, anyway?”

Yamato shrugged, not turning to face him as he answered, “I ate things uncooked. Limited my options a bit and didn’t do anything for the taste, but food is food.”

“How did you eat meat?”

Yamato did look at him this time, and he was wearing his now familiar ‘Taichi just asked another stupid question’ expression, “I’d take a minute to think about whether you _really_ want me to answer that, if I were you.”

Right. Yamato probably didn’t have to cook his meat, either. Yamato was not wrong; Taichi didn’t really want the details.

Unexpectedly, Yamato continued explaining unprompted, “Anyway, meat goes bad really fast if you don’t preserve it, so it’s not like I can really hunt in advanced during the full moon, and it’s very expensive, so I can never justify buying it. Full moons are really the only time I ever eat it.” 

That was still probably more information than Taichi wanted, even if it were mostly things he could easily have assumed on his own. Knowing Yamato probably hunted when he was transformed and actually _knowing_ it were different, after all. But normally Taichi had to drag information out of Yamato, so it was a nice change to have him share a little more openly. He wasn’t sure what it was about this subject, maybe Yamato had been waiting for an opportunity to get it off of his chest, because Taichi still hadn’t even responded yet he still continued.

“Cooking aside, this thing really has been a lifesaver, though. Winter would have been really hard without being able to keep a fire. It was a lucky find . . . I happened to notice someone had left it out to be gotten rid of when I was in town one day. I don’t usually like doing that sort of thing, but I went back after dark and took it. It’s heavy as hell; it took me forever to get it all the way back here.”

Taichi eyed the stove, which was very small but definitely made from solid cast iron--he wondered how much stronger than the average person Yamato had to be to have dragged it through the woods by himself at all, regardless of how long it took him. At the moment, though, that was not the first question on his mind. “. . .So you stole it?”

“From someone’s trash.” Yamato reiterated defensively. Then, obviously feeling the need to defend himself further, he added, “The only place I would ever consider stealing from.”

“Hey it’s cool, I trust you.” Taichi assured. He meant it, and yet he’d also sincerely needed to ask, and to hear Yamato say it first. He was aggravated with himself for not being able to just trust Yamato unconditionally. And yet the trust he felt for the werewolf still had to combat against years of prejudice that had taught him quite the opposite.

“Doesn’t it bug you?” 

The question had come out quite before he’d had the chance to actually think about it, and immediately Taichi was worried he would regret it in the end. But it was too late to take it back now; Yamato was looking at him curiously, and he wasn’t likely to accept a simple ‘nevermind’ in response to such an outburst.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean. . .” Taichi considered his words carefully, cautious of Yamato putting back up the walls that he’d been so carefully breaking down, “You follow all of the rules. And you have to work so hard just to get by. Then other werewolves just attack people, or steal their livestock. It must make it harder for you. They make you look bad, when you haven’t done anything wrong.”

Taichi was expecting Yamato to get angry at him, or quickly admonish him for his words. But his reaction was much more surprising than that. In fact, at first Yamato did not react much at all--he remained calmed, his eyes showing he was taking a moment to seriously consider Taichi’s words and he continued to idly work on their meal.

Finally, Yamato shook his head. “I can’t excuse hurting people, or stealing, but it’s not that simple. Because I also can’t just forgive the system that makes them feel like they have no other choice.”

There wasn’t much Taichi could say to that. He couldn’t deny that the system was utterly stacked against people like Yamato, who couldn’t go to school, and would likely never even be able to get a job, at least not one he could keep for long. Yamato obviously had some money, although Taichi wasn’t sure where he got it from and he sure wasn’t going to ask now. But the truth was, it was on savvy and determination alone that Yamato was able to get by. If he were a little less capable of solving problems and taking care of himself, Yamato might also have no choice but to resort to something like stealing to survive. If it was honestly an act of desperation, would Taichi be willing to forgive the indiscretion?

He was saved from having to dwell on the question long when a spoon rather abruptly appeared in his line of sight, distracting him from his thoughts.

The spoon, it turned out, was in Yamato’s hand, and the blond seemed to be holding it out for him rather expectantly. “Well, I said you were going to start learning to cook, didn’t I? You’ll never learn if you don’t actually do anything.”

The change in subject might have seemed bizarrely abrupt, but Taichi could read between the lines easily enough. Yamato didn’t want to discuss it any further. It was honestly something of a relief; Taichi wasn’t sure he could handle talking about it anymore at the moment either, although he knew he be spending a lot of time thinking about it for the foreseeable future.

Fortunately, they were able to relax into a much lighter mood fairly quickly, thanks to Yamato’s rather blunt transition. Taichi worked at the stir fry, while Yamato kept sternly reminding him that if he didn’t keep it moving in the pan, he would burn it.

He didn’t quite burn it, but it didn’t come out nearly as perfect as it would have had Yamato prepared it on his own, either. Taichi’s cooking skills would remain a work in progress for the time being. But, Yamato reminded him cheerfully (and a little mischievously, if the glint in his blue eyes was any indication), they had an entire week ahead from him to practice. 

Taichi groaned, perfectly keen to skip the effort and remain the largely ignorant cook he currently was. The dread didn’t last long, however; he had an entire, blissfully uninterrupted week with Yamato ahead of him, after all. It didn’t really matter what they spent the time doing. Being together was enough.

* * *

Living without amenities was an adjustment. But when it also meant waking up next to Yamato everyday, Taichi was pretty sure he could get used to it. Besides, Yamato made it look so effortless that Taichi’s pride felt compelled to keep up.

There were some benefits to things like not having running water as well. For example, bathing together with Yamato in the stream that ran a little ways behind the shack had proven quite enjoyable. 

Most of their days were spent doing exactly that: enjoying each other’s company. There wasn’t much to do, all things considered, but Taichi rarely had the time to consider it. Watching paint dry could have been made amusing, he suspected, by having Yamato there to discuss it with. Not to mention it left plenty of time for making out. They had their healthy share of that over the week, sometimes lying awake until the early hours of the morning pressed impossibly close together on the tiny cot, exploring each other’s bodies. Other nights they were so exhausted from their day spent together that it would be mere moments after they had collapsed into bed that they were falling asleep, holding each other tightly. Taichi wasn’t sure which of the two he preferred.

Their tense conversation from the first night had not come back up, and if he was being honest Taichi had been very careful to steer clear of it. By Saturday evening, however, the tension was starting to build back up for an entirely different reason.

It was the night of the full moon. This would be the first time Taichi was spending it with Yamato, besides the night they first met. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was so apprehensive about it, except maybe that it came with a strange feeling of knowing exactly what to expect, and yet really not knowing what to expect at all.

The fact that a few hours before sunset Yamato suddenly developed a nervous energy didn’t exactly help matters either. Within a few minutes he’d filled the entire room with it.

“Are you okay?” Taichi asked, reaching out to lightly put a hand on his shoulder. Yamato just about jumped out of his skin in response.

“Sorry,” he answered almost too quickly, trying to recover himself, “I always get like this when it starts getting close. I think it might have something to do with how I’m able to stay up all night without getting tired, but I’m really not sure why it happens.”

It hadn’t occurred to Taichi before that moment, that there might be aspects of Yamato’s abilities that even the werewolf himself couldn’t explain or understand. Maybe it should have been frightening, but it actually humanized Yamato’s experience even more for him. After all, couldn’t Taichi relate? No one could really explain why he’d been born unable to do magic, or why his sister was so incredibly exceptional at it. It was just an accident of fate, decided for them from the moment they were born. ‘That’s just the way it is,’ was the best anyone had ever been able to offer.

For Yamato, this was just the way things were. Even still Taichi could only scratch the surface of understanding; he didn’t have to deal with having things happening to his mind or body that he could neither explain nor control. He offered Yamato an encouraging smile, one he hoped masked the sympathy he was also feeling, which was sure to be unappreciated by the proud blond.

Judging by the way Yamato pouted ever so slightly and refused to meet his eyes, he hadn’t hidden his emotions well. 

“So. . . what’s it going to be like?” Taichi asked, knowing Yamato needed the conversation to move on, but also genuinely curious. ‘Are you going to recognize me?’ was the question he really wanted to ask, was honestly desperate to know the answer to, but even he knew he couldn’t be so blunt.

Yamato shrugged, as if his transformation was no big deal, as if they didn’t both know it was quite the opposite. “I still remember everything when I’m transformed. It’s not like there’s two different versions of me.” Yamato had answered the question Taichi didn’t ask so directly he couldn’t help but wonder if the blond could read his mind. “I might not actually know what you’re saying, or be able to respond, but I’ll probably understand you, for the most part.”

That was all a relief to hear. After all, it meant _his_ Yamato would still be with him no matter what.

“What else?”

Yamato shook his head. “I hunt a bit, mostly squirrels since that’s what’s around--”

Taichi couldn’t help the disgusted look that crossed his face. Yamato rolled his eyes at him before continuing.

“I usually don’t stray too far from here ‘cause I get pretty territorial. That’s really it. For something that gets built up a lot, the full moon is usually pretty anticlimactic for me.”

It sounded very anticlimactic, and for all that Taichi didn’t want it to be more like the stories he’d grown up with, didn’t want Yamato to tell him that he was going to go crazy and attack anyone or anything in sight, it did somehow leave him feeling a little disappointed. 

“Honestly, you can just stay here if you want.” Yamato added, perhaps growing uncomfortable in the silence as Taichi didn’t react to his explanation. Engaging in conversation had clearly not made him any less edgy.

“No, I want to be with you! For starters, I have to admit I’m curious about it.” Yamato wrinkled his nose, and Taichi could appreciate why that was a confession he didn’t care for. But if Taichi was going to embrace the truth of everything Yamato had told him, it felt like experiencing it for himself was an important part of that. “Besides, this is a part of you too, right? So I want to know it just as well as all of the other parts.”

Yamato didn’t respond to that, nor would he look Taichi in the eye, but Taichi noticed the corner of his lips curling up into the tiniest of smiles all the same.

Taichi would have liked for the moment to last longer, but Yamato proved unable to sit still for long. He wasn’t able to eat dinner either, although Taichi supposed that wouldn’t be much of an issue tonight (not that he really wanted to think about watching Yamato eat squirrels). By the time the sun started setting, Taichi was so relieved Yamato’s anxiety would soon pass that he forgot to be apprehensive about the change that would relieve it.

And when Yamato started undressing in front of him he forgot just about every thought in his head.

“Oh come on, that is so not fair!”

“Sorry, but I can’t exactly leave ‘em on.” Yamato apologized, although it didn’t seem all that sincere with the way he was grinning lecherously at Taichi while he said it. 

Taichi pointedly averted his gaze, knowing that if he let himself get going now he was in for a long and disappointing night. Still, Yamato made a fair point. “What, you mean you don’t like ripping up a perfectly good set of clothes every month?”

Yamato flushed, and even though Taichi was trying very hard not to look he could help but notice how it crept all the way down to the blond boy’s pale chest, “Actually, uh, I lost track of time once and still had my clothes on when I transformed. Instead of it ripping off I just ended up totally tangled up in my own shirt. It must have taken me a solid hour before I was able to rip it off of myself.”

It was rude to laugh, but Taichi couldn’t help himself.

“Laugh all you want,” Yamato retorted, even as his blush had deepened, “But I’d like to see you survive a night without opposable thumbs. 

Taichi didn’t have a good comeback to that, but fortunately for him Yamato didn’t wait for one. He’d turned his attention out the recently unboarded window, through which the very last vestiges of sunlight were disappearing. He looked back at Taich just long enough to say, “Talk to you in the morning, then.”

The transformation was quicker than Taichi expected and not nearly as frightening to watch. Within a few brief seconds the Yamato he had come to recognize was gone, and in his place stood the familiar, sandy-colored wolf he’d first met all of those months ago.

It was a little strange at first. Taichi wasn’t sure what to say, or whether it was really worth saying anything. Yamato was just sitting there, looking at him. He wouldn’t be much for conversation tonight, but he had said he would still understand, right?

“So. . . now what?”

Yamato’s response was to stand up and push through the front door. Taichi followed him out into the woods.

In many ways, the night was as entirely uninteresting as Yamato had made it sound. Taich had to admit that he was the tiniest bit disappointed at first. Yamato trotted about seemingly at random with Taichi following behind; he would stop every so often, presumably to check something out, although Taichi was rarely able to even notice what had caught the attention of the werewolf’s much keener senses.

Yamato was mostly ignoring him, too, which made Taichi doubt whether he even remembered he had a companion with him. But then he would occasionally circle back to stand beside Taichi, glance around as if to ensure the coast was clear, and then continue on with whatever else he was doing. 

_I get pretty territorial_ , Yamato had said of himself during his transformation. About the third time Yamato came back to “check on him” like that Taichi realized that statement applied to _him_ as well. He wasn’t sure if it was normal for that information to make him as giddy as it did.

Eventually when Yamato stopped it was obvious he was after something, body stock still, ears pointed forward. It turned out to be a rabbit, although Taichi declined to watch beyond finding that out. Judging by how quickly he and Yamato were moving on again, the poor thing hadn’t stood much of a chance.

A few more times Yamato got on the hunt after some small woodland creature, and Taichi just tried to busy himself with looking around the forest while he was at it. Not that there was much to look at--they’d stray rather far from the clearing where the shack stood at this point, and the tree cover was thick now. Taichi was depending on staying close to Yamato just to keep his footing and not get lost; he was lucky to get enough moonlight to see past a few feet in front of him.

He was starting to get awfully tired as well. It was hard to say how long they had been out but it had to have been hours. Besides that, they had walked _a_ _lot_ , and unlike Yamato he wasn’t exactly equipped for going all night without sleep. If they went too much farther, he ran the risk of not being able to make it back.

"Hey, Yamato, what do you say we turn back now?” He was turned away from Yamato when he said it, looking around in a vain attempt to see if he could get his bearings on his own. Still, there were no signs that Yamato had reacted to his words at all--no leaves crunched or twigs snapped under his feet, the air didn’t shift as he turned to walk past Taichi in another direction, what would have been tell tale signs that he had heard and understood the request.

Taichi turned around to look at the werewolf and ask a second time, hoping that maybe his facial expression or body language might help get his point across better. He was greeted by an unsettling sight.

“. . .Yamato?”

Yamato was standing perfectly still again, but this time it was different than when he’d been staring down prey, eerier. He was staring intensely off into the distance and his ears were back instead of forward. The hairs along his back were all standing on end. Taichi’s presence also seemed to have entirely left his radar.

Taichi had never owned a dog, but his parents had taught him well enough how to avoid one that was acting unfriendly. Yamato seemed like a textbook example now, but the strange and seemingly aggressive behavior wasn’t directed at Taichi, so he should have nothing to worry about, right?”

“Yamato, what’s the matter?” Yamato had bared his teeth and begun to growl, still totally oblivious to Taichi. He was completely focused on some unseen threat in the distance (or maybe it wasn’t so distant, Taichi thought with increasing apprehension--it wasn’t like he could see very far). Increasingly concerned by Yamato’s unexpected behavior and therefore increasingly desperate to somehow get his attention, Taichi reached out to place a hand gingerly between the werewolf’s shoulders. 

Like a tightly coiled spring suddenly being released, the tension released from Yamato’s body and he rounded on Taichi, so quickly and with such force that Taichi was bowled over, landing on his rear end on the forest floor, his arm still outstretched where he’d attempted to lay it upon Yamato’s back. Yamato’s face was mere inches from his when he snapped his jaw open then closed again, teeth still bared, which lasted for the longest ten seconds of Taichi’s life until Yamato apparently realized who he was staring down and back off just as quickly.

Taichi took a deep breath, attempting to slow his racing heart, which he didn’t think had ever beat so fast. He planted both his hands on the ground to steady himself and hide the fact that they were shaking.

At least he wasn’t tired anymore.

Yamato’s body language had done another one-eighty, his ears now back completely flat and his head low. He slowly approached Taichi again; Taichi felt his body stiffen a little in spite of himself, but he didn’t back away so Yamato walked right up to him and gently licked his chin. He reached a tentative hand out again, and this time Yamato rubbed his head against it.

“You scared me for a minute there, squirrell breath.”

The words had been meant to lighten the mood, but Taichi’s breath was still so shaky he didn’t think he’d been very effective. At this point, he didn’t have the stamina to try again. Taking another deep breath and this time feeling the tension drain out of his body with it, he tried asking again, “Can we go home now?”

This time there was no doubt Yamato understood the request. After waiting to make sure that Taichi was back up and steady on his feet, he immediately began trekking in the direction from whence they’d come. All the way back he made sure to remain only a step or two ahead of Taichi. 

By the time they made it back to the shack Taichi had never been so happy to see a bed in his entire life, no matter how measly the little cot may have been. He collapsed into without even bothering to undress (although after a moment or two of Yamato barking at the foot of the bed he did realize he was being asked to remove his shoes and complied). Once he was settled Yamato jumped up and lay beside him, and while there were likely still hours of moonlight left, Taichi was confident that Yamato would not leave him for the rest of the night.

Taichi didn’t awaken until the sun has risen high enough in the sky that it was shining right into his face through the windows, rousing him. Even still he’d certainly gotten less sleep than normal, and he was groggy as he lightly stretched his arms and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Yamato was still asleep beside him, human again, sleeping on his stomach with one arm draped across Taichi’s chest and his head resting on Taichi’s shoulder. He was snoring lightly.

Before he had transformed back Yamato had been like an oven laying beside Taichi with his thick fur coat and Taichi had kicked the blanket off of the cot. Now the crisp morning air was chilly, but with Yamato on top of him Taichi was unable to reach for the blanket.

He would hardly call himself a morning person, but Taichi was used to waking up early for class or soccer practice, so he was almost always awake before Yamato, who was categorically _not_ a morning person. It was nice to be able to see Yamato sleeping calmly for a few minutes, without any of the pretense or stress he seemed to always carry with him otherwise, even if he usually couldn’t resist waking Yamato up for long. Of course, this morning this also carried with it the bonus of being able to enjoy the view of Yamato’s still naked body.

Then again, maybe that would be even more enjoyable if Yamato was awake.

The first few nights he’d spent here Taichi had tried to sweetly wake Yamato up, things like stroking his cheek or tucking the stray hair out of his face. These methods had quickly proved futile against Yamato’s ability and willingness to sleep the morning away, and Taichi had quickly learned that more drastic measures needed to be taken.

Today he resorted to poking Yamato squarely on the cheek. Yamato reached up with the arm draped across Taichi to swat his hand away, groaning lightly, but didn’t open his eyes. Taichi poked him several more times, repeatedly, before Yamato reached up this time to grab his hand and hold on so that he was forced to stop. Given that his eyes were still squeezed tightly shut, it was pretty impressive.

“You might as well give in now, or I’m going to resort to tickling soon.”

Yamato finally opened one striking blue eye to glare at him. Taichi grinned toothily in return.

That had apparently done the trick though. Yamato opened his eye properly and stretched his body. He didn’t hold Taichi’s gaze for long, though, instead getting right out of bed to put his clothes back on, looking just about anywhere else.

By this point in their relationship Taichi had learned to recognize the signs that a conversation was coming in which Yamato tried to convince Taichi just how bad the blond was for him. It wasn’t exactly a mystery where it had come from this morning, although there was a part of Taichi that had been hoping Yamato would have forgotten some of the more exciting events of the previous night. He’d known it had been too much to hope for, of course, since Yamato had said himself it didn’t work like that.

Hoping to get ahead of it, Taichi tried to address the problem before Yamato even had a chance, “Yamato, listen, what happened last night--”

“Please don’t try to tell me it was fine, because we both know it wasn’t. You’re just going to make me feel even worse.”

Okay, so that had not been terribly successful. Taichi tried again, “But I am fine, aren’t I? See, not a scratch on me.”

As if it would emphasize his point and make everything alright, Taichi patted himself down the front to prove his lack of injuries. Normally this was exactly the sort of thing that would getting Yamato grinning in spite of himself, but he did not crack today.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Taichi, but that’s not the point. The point is you were afraid of me--please don’t try to lie about it because I knew it then and I still know it--and I don’t blame you for being afraid. How can I expect you to ever trust me again after that?”

Yamato sat back down on the bed, but at the very foot of it, away from Taichi. Taichi scooted himself down so they were side by side. “Yamato, you’ve got it all wrong. You’re right, I was scared last night. But I wasn’t scared you were going to hurt me. Don’t get me wrong, you surprised the shit out of me when you came at me like that, so I will definitely never be sneaking up on you again, accidental or otherwise. . .”

Finally, Taichi caught the beginnings of a smile in the corner of Yamato’s lips, even as the blond still tried to hide it.

“. . .The reason I was scared was it was the one time you didn’t seem like _you_ anymore. You were acting so different, so far away, I didn’t think you would recognize me. But even through that, even when I caught you off guard, you still knew me and you held yourself back. I think I trust you more now than I did before. You erased all of the doubts I’d been feeling all week.”

Yamato shook his head, eyes wide, “You know, Yagami, sometimes I don’t get you at all. I don’t have the slightest clue why you’re still here with me, but I’m really glad you are. 

Taichi’s heart swelled. But Yamato was already averting his eyes, cheeks red, and there was no way he would handle a sincere response well. Instead Taichi grinned, “You’re going to be even more glad when you hear the sweet nickname I came up with for you last night.”

For some reason, Yamato did not appreciate the name “squirrel breath” nearly as much as Taichi did.

He also definitely checked his breath against his hand the first chance he thought Taichi wasn’t looking.

Taichi laid back down, grabbing Yamato by the arm so he was forced to follow suit. They were back in a similar position to where they’d been when Taichi had first woken up, but now Yamato was on his side pressed up again Taichi, head tucked under his chin, his blond hair tickling Taichi’s nose.

Perhaps it was risky to continue the conversation when he’d managed to avoid an argument, but Taichi felt like he still needed to know more, “What happened last night, anyway? I’m assuming you didn’t start acting all weird for no reason.”

Yamato nodded, “There was something else out there last night.”

“Something else like. . .another werewolf?” Taichi paled, he was learning to put his prejudices behind him, but he still didn’t think he was ready to have a run in with a strange werewolf during the full moon.

Oh no, you’d have known if there was another werewolf. If you thought I was acting strange last night you would not like to see what that would be like--there probably would have been a throwdown.” Taichi agreed that he would not care to see that at all, “It was definitely some kind of predator, though, probably a coyote or a bobcat or something. Whatever it was it got scared off when I snapped at you.”

“See, that wasn’t for nothing then.” Taichi replied. Yamato shoved him.

“It’s a little weird. ‘Cause normally they wouldn’t come anywhere near here thanks to me. It must have either been really hungry or really stupid.”

Taichi shrugged, “Stupid or not, it’s not like you would actually kill it anyway, right?”

“If it had come near you, I would have.” Yamato said as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

Once again Taichi remembered Yamato’s words from the night before-- _I get pretty territorial_ \--although this time they felt distinctly less flattering. He knew Yamato was only saying he would protect Taichi if it came down to it, knew too that Yamato would show more reservation if it was a _person_ they were talking about, but it made him uncomfortable to hear Yamato speak so matter-of-factly about it anyway. He didn’t want to be the reason why someone or something else got hurt.

He didn’t want to be the reason why Yamato had to be the one to do it.

“Well, good thing you showed it who was boss, then.” Taichi laughed, although he had to admit it sounded a little forced.

Yamato didn’t seem to notice his apprehension, surprisingly. Usually he was hyper aware of anything he did that might make Taichi uncomfortable. That comment hadn’t struck him as particularly noteworthy apparently, because now he was smiling up at Taichi coyly.

“You know. . . I’m king of questioning why I bothered putting my clothes back on. . .”

That was one change of subject Taichi had absolutely no desire to derail, but he also couldn’t help himself poking a bit of fun, “I’m pretty sure it was because you were trying really hard to pout about your bad behavior last night.”

That earned an actual pout from Yamato, and a pair of narrowed blue eyes, but the blond still pushed himself slightly more forward on the cot so he could lightly press their lips together, undeterred.

 Taichi happily obliged him.

They let the next few hours pass by without getting out of bed, and while Taichi had no regrets about that, it meant the time had arrived for the feeling of dread that came with the impending end of his vacation to settle in.

Yamato must have been feeling it as well. He was laying across Taichi’s chest, letting Taichi card fingers through his soft blond hair when he said quietly, “I don’t want you to go.”

“That makes two of us.” Taichi replied sadly. There were several hours left before he would actually have to return to school, but he would need to be in town early enough that he could fake “arriving” with the rest of the students who would return on the train. That left him much less time. 

He did have a little plot concocting in the back of his head though. . . one he knew better than to hope would be well-received, but if Yamato was sufficiently desperate not to see him go so soon maybe he would be more amenable than normal.

“You know, I was thinking. . .” Taichi began cautiously, stilling his hand atop Yamato’s head. “What if you came with me when I went into town? We could go early, walk around for a little while, get something to eat. We’d be able to spend more time together that way.”

Yamato looked at him the way an adult might look at a small child they just had to explain something to for the hundredth time. “Taichi, I’ve already told you, it’s not a good idea for us to be seen together.”

“But everyone’s just going to assume we’re both students, anyway.”

“And what if another student from your school happens to be there?” Yamato asked, “What if they recognize you, and then want to know who I am? What are we supposed to tell them?”

“We should just tell them the truth,” Taichi grumbled, aggravated at the response to his suggestion even though he’d known it was coming, “I’m so sick of having to hide like this.”

Yamato sat bolt upright, looking like he’d been stabbed in the chest. Horrified, Taichi remembered the fear Yamato had expressed the day this had all begun, that Taichi would get sick of him because they had to be so secretive. That had been an insanely stupid thing to say; now he needed to do damage control fast or Yamato would go on a tear about how this was all hopeless again. 

“No! No, no, no.” Taichi held Yamato’s face between his hands, gently turned his head so he would have to look him in the eyes when he spoke, “That’s not what I mean. I’m not tired of you, or of us. I’m tired of watching you give up so much, and hide yourself away, just because everyone else doesn’t want to admit that you’re just like them. They should just have to deal with it.” 

“Trust me when I tell you that if those people found out about me they would be sure to ‘deal with it,’” Yamato wore a sour expression, but it softened as he continued, “I wish the rest of the world could be more like you Taichi, but most people would never listen to what I have to say. They don’t even need to jump to conclusions--they’ve already drawn their conclusions about me.”

Taichi frowned. The idea of accepting this as the way things were just didn’t sit right with him. But he wasn’t about to force Yamato to do something he felt would put him in danger.

Rather suddenly, he had an idea. He got quickly off the cot and went to rummage in his duffle bag. Yamato watched him wide-eyed, caught off guard by the sudden change. 

Finding what he was looking for, Taichi stood up straight and turned to face Yamato again. “Here,” he said, holding out his varsity soccer jacket.

Yamato stared at it bemusedly, not taking it right away, “What?”

“If I can’t take you on a date, at least let me give you this,” He nudged Yamato lightly, and Yamato finally reached out and took the jacket from him, “That’s a thing couples do, right?” 

“Y-you would know better than me,” Yamato replied. But he was blushing, the significance of the gesture clearly not lost on him. He looked down at the article in his lap, running his fingers over it lightly.

“It’s symbolic.” Taichi answered himself. “And maybe nobody else will ever actually see it, but. . . nobody else really matters, as far as I’m concerned.”

Yamato looked back up at him now, eyes shining. He nodded. “Right. Thank you, Taichi.”

* * *

Tearing himself away from the little shack had been nearly impossible. And then Yamato had decided to walk part of the way with him, as far as he was comfortable, which had resulted in a second round of putting off saying good-bye to each other. Yamato had worn his jacket on the walk, too; the sight of him in it shouldn’t have given Taichi nearly so many butterflies, but it did.

In the end, he’d cut it much closer than he would have liked making it back in time, but he was able to slip into the crowd of students milling about the train station unnoticed, his ruse officially a success from beginning to end.

“I hope you had a nice break,” Jou said with a disapproving look and tone when they were reunited, but he didn’t have much ammunition to lecture Taichi with today. The plan had worked after all.

“A little bit too nice, honestly,” Taichi admitted. “I can’t believe I have to go back to class tomorrow, what a drag.”

Somehow, the dread of returning to reality didn’t dissipate now that he was there. His classwork became the new threat looming over him, and now he could no longer even distract himself by cuddling up with Yamato instead.

Dinner that evening brought with yet another source of dread. While eating his meal Taichi overheard a disturbing conversation taking place a few seats away from him in the dining hall.

“Did you hear everyone talking in town? It’s back.”

“What is?”

“The werewolf!”

“No way! How do they know?”

“Apparently on the night of the full moon three lambs were killed in the village. They found them mostly eaten the next morning. It had to be the werewolf!”

“Geez, how scary! I hope it stays away from the school!”

Taichi fumed. Before, the rumors about the werewolf in the forest he would hear seemed ridiculous, laughable even. Now it felt like a baseless attack on Yamato’s character. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed not to turn around and snap at the kids talking about it.

“That’s interesting information.” Koushiro offered, also having eavesdropped on the conversation.

Taichi glared at him, furious that he would even take the words seriously. He lowered his voice, speaking just loudly enough that he could still maintain the bite behind his words, “It’s also not true! I was with Yamato all night long during the full moon, and we never went into the village. He said there was some other predator around that night, it must have been that. Because it wasn’t Yamato!”

“Oh, I don’t believe it was him,” Koushiro replied, “But I do believe that it’s sure to affect him regardless.”

Taichi’s heart sank, the anger deflating out of it along with him. Koushiro had a good point, one that made Taichi very nervous.

As if transitioning back to class the next day wasn’t going to be hard enough, Taichi couldn’t sleep a wink that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Rating may go up with future chapters? Beta'd only by myself so please bear with my imperfections.


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